Disclaimer: me no own. I know this fan fiction. This has nothing to do with Naruto, blah, blah, blah.
Random talk: Wow xo! Thirty reviews in one chapter! Thanks guys! Love you all.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sakura dropped the phone. It clattered against the floor. Sakura was in shock. Didn't the sign fly off to somewhere safe where nobody would find it? Obviously not.
Her mom stepped into the room to see what the sound was. She saw Sakura starring blankly at the wall, sitting stiffly with her fingers fanned out. Sakura must have released the phone by accident. Her mom picked it off the floor and brought it up to her ear.
"Hello? Oh, hi! Yes, that was ours. No, it wasn't me. It was my daughter. Uh-huh. She was the one who put the poster up. She'd love to! Ok. Uh-huh, bye-bye!" her mother said cheerfully into the phone.
"Wow, someone is looking to hire you already! I'm happy that your deciding to help pay off the bills Saku-chan!" her mother smiled.
"I didn't want to! You and Oto-san made me! I had no say in thi-"
"SAKURA-CHAN!" her mom snapped, giving her an evil glare. Sakura sighed and leaned back into the house.
"You go apply for the job tomorrow. They'll ask you a few questions about yourself, see what time you can come in, and stuff like that. And please Sakura . . . don't mess this up. Do it for . . . the family," her mom said as she left the living room.
Sakura pressed her back harder into the sofa and hugged a pillow close her herself. "Yeah . . . for the family."
~*~*~*~*~*~
Sakura couldn't help but stare. It was so remarkable. So unreal. She hadn't seen anything like it! It was huge, ornate, and such a marvel. Drool was starting to drip from her mouth as she gawked at it.
Holy cheese-cake was that mansion big!
One of the gate guards coughed and Sakura realized that they were giving her funny looks. She blushed and wiped a string of spit away from the corner of her lip. She pressed the intercom button with her slender green-painted-nail finger. A fuzzy voice came out the little micro phone. Sakura bent down to speak into it.
"Umm, hello. I'm Haruno Sakura and I'm here for the maid interview," her voice shook a bit. She couldn't believe she was actually doing this.
A loud clanking came from within the stone wall and the Iron Gate slid away quickly. Sakura had to move her face or otherwise the moving bars would have smacked into her nose. The guards from the watch towers motioned for her to walk through. It was a long walk from there to the mansion.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Sakura gasped when she came in. She felt as if she was in a palace of some kind. Every wall was decorated with pictures, weapons, or ornamental wall designs. It was styled in tradition Japan architecture. There was a very detailed dragon was about twenty feet long that covered about half the wall. She could see in the main hall there was a large chandelier. Crystals hung from it in the shape of tear drops.
"Hello, hello! You must be Haruno-san! Please come in!" a cheery voice met her ears. Sakura tugged off her ninja sandals and slipped into a pair of cozy pink slippers. They felt like heaven for her feet.
A slim woman stepped into the walkway. She greeted Sakura with open arms, dragging her into what looked like a dinning room. She sat Sakura down on one side of the very long table and she walked around the room to sit on the other side, facing Sakura. She placed a large stack of papers to Sakura's left.
Through all of this, Sakura had no idea what was going on. Her head was aching because things were going to fast for her mind to grasp.
"Uh . . . um . . . errr . . ." Sakura fumbled with her words. The lady looked up.
"Yes, miss?"
"Who . . . are you?" Sakura blurted out. The tips of her ears became red when she realized how rude she sounded.
The lady laughed and put down her fountain pin. "Ah, yes, I do need to introduce myself. I'm Hyuga Mariko. I'm the one who called your house after I found the billboard you put up! I am the wife of the leader of the Hyuga Branch family," she explained with a giggle.
"But why aren't your eyes . . ."
"Oh! Why my eyes aren't white?" she said, pointing to one of her dark chocolate brown eyes. "I am only a Hyuga by marriage of Hizashi. But unfortunately . . . he's no longer with us," she said the last part sorrowfully. Sakura suddenly felt a jab at her heart, knowing what she meant.
"Oh. I'm sorry I was so rude. It's just that, well, I was wondering who you were and . . ."
"That's ok, Miss. Everyone wants to know why my eyes aren't white like the rest of the Hyugas," she said. "Stand up so I can see you better, ok Miss?"
Sakura did as she was told. Marino looked her up and down, studying her clothes. Every now and then, Marino would write something down on a piece of paper. She made Sakura nervous.
"Miss, your clothing tells me that you are a ninja. May I ask what team your on?" the lady asked, flicking a stray piece of raven hair away from her face.
"Team seven, Hyuga-san," Sakura said and sat back down again.
The lady once again wrote something down on her sheet. The pen moved swiftly across. Sakura could feel herself sweating.
"Ok, I got a little schedule worked out. How about you work here on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and every other Saturday? We're very flexible with time, so this can be changed at almost anytime. You just have to work at least 3 times a week, unless it's the every other week where you work 4 times. If you miss one day, you can make it up sometime later. I know that since you are a ninja that you are very busy. I just want to make things easy for you," she smiled. Sakura felt relieved that she was working with such a nice lady.
"That sounds fine, Hyuga-san!" Sakura chirped. ((Though inwardly we all know she doesn't want to work.))
Mrs. Hyuga beamed. "Neeeeejiiii! Come down and meet our new maid!" she hollered.
Upstairs, something tripped and slowly paced down the stairs. Suddenly, Neji appeared at the door of the dining room. The first thing Sakura saw was his eyes . . . because they were piercing right into hers.
"Neji, meet Haruno Sakura-san. Haruno-san, this is my son, Neji. In fact, Sakura, it was Neji who found your sign for me!" Marino said, gesturing back and forth between the two.
" . . . I already know her. She's on the same team of Naruto," Neji spat.
"Really? Well I'm sure you and Sakura will get along nicely, seeing that you and Naruto are such good friends!" Marino said happily. Sakura sighed. Mrs. Hyuga had know clue how much Neji disliked Naruto.
"Yeah . . . whatever," Neji turned to leave.
"Wait, Neji!" Mrs. Hyuga called. Neji flinched.
"What?"
"Show Sakura around, please? She'll be working tomorrow, so she needs to know her way around."
"Okay," he said flatly.
Neji's mother handed him a list. He looked it over and frowned, but didn't say anything. He watched his mother leave. The door closed softly behind her.
"Neji-san?" Sakura asked, tapping him on the shoulder. He glared down at her with those cold eyes that made her shudder.
"What do you want?"
"How did you find my poster?" she questioned. She wasn't planning on telling him why it had gotten away from her.
" . . . It smacked me in the head."
"Oh," Sakura said sadly. However, Inner Sakura was screaming 'Nya, nya, nya! What kind of loser getting hit on the head with a sign?!'
"The list says you have to clean the main hall's chandelier twice a week and . . ."
"That chandelier?" Sakura gasped.
Neji glared at her. "I guess it would be, because it is the only one in our house."
"But twice a week? That thing is huge!"
". . . So?"
Sakura's jaw flew open. Neji was colder than she thought! What kind of jerk just said "so?" to a lady such as herself?
"It also says you have to clean the west wing. It's over there. Clean it all. I want it spotless," he demanded. "That includes washing the windows from the outside-in and dusting the corners of the walls were spiders go," he said, handing the list over to Sakura.
Half of the things Neji wanted weren't on the list. But cleaning the west wing and the chandelier twice a week was. Sakura groaned.
Her weekly chores would be:
1: wash windows every two weeks, unless needing to be washed before then. (Please dust first and then wash gently with ammonia.)
2: dust furniture.
3: Draw all drapes at noon.
4: Clean the bathrooms.
5: Wash/iron/put away requested clothing.
6: Make meals/wash dishes
7: other assignments will be given at random.
"Oh boy," Sakura said. "This is going to be one hell of six months!"
Neji poked his head back into the room. "Hey, you! Quit talking to yourself and pick up your maid outfit!"
Indeed, this was going to be one hell of six months!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Yo people! Sorry this took so long. I'm going to be slow with updates for awhile until my life goes back to normal (whatever that is.) Sorry that I didn't bring up any of Sakura's chores yet. I needed to get this chapter done really bad! Promise there will be more.
BTW: Don't expect there to be any Saku/Neji moments just yet. I'm not going to rush it. Remember, Sakura has half a year to fall in love with Neji and vice versa. Sasuke's gonna be thrown in here too.
Yes, I plan for Sakura and Hinata to be friends. I won't say anymore about it, but trust is inata has a huge role in Sakura's new life.
Many surprises ahead! Beware. You'll be shocked with some of the stuff I have for you.