Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine! Neither is Neji or Sasuke, no matter how much I wish they were!
Koge-pan1: ah, yeah I changed the rating. I was planning to have allot of swearing in stuff through out the fic but I figured it would be better just to rate it PG because basically all the chapters are that rating.
Note: Words in italics are thought. [Words like this are Inner Sakura!]
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Chapter 3
Underwear
Sakura couldn't quite figure out what the object Neji held out in front of her was. Was it an ugly certain he wanting her to clean? Part of a ripped up rug? The possibilities where endless.
Actually, Sakura knew exactly what it was, but she asked Neji anyway.
"What the hell is that?" she pointed at the hideous thing.
"It's your uniform," he answered and shoved it in her arms.
"What?! You want me to wear that thing?" She fought the need to scream at the grimacing boy.
"You're the one who applied to the job. If you don't like it then quit."
Sakura frowned. This guy was good at coming up with smart comebacks. He left hers in the dust.
"Once you change you can get to work."
"Now?"
"Sometime this year," he said. Sakura's face turned red. Neji finally understood what was going on inside her head.
"Not in here, idiot. In the bathroom. It's over there," he pushed Sakura in inside the bathroom and closed the door quickly behind her.
Sakura huffed and turned the lock on the door. She was satisfied when she heard a click. She did not feel comfortable changing in another person's house, especially if there was a boy living there. Sakura's first impression of Neji wasn't good and he didn't exactly give off the impression he was the "clean" type. For all Sakura knew, he could a mega-perv with a porn collection that was so big, it towered over her head.
She then examined her uniform. It wasn't as unattractive as she imagined it was back when Neji handed it to her. In fact, she thought she would look very cute in it. It was a light grey color and it had white sleeve cuffs that were pinned down by tiny delicate buttons. A snow colored apron came with it. Around the neck was a white collar that had intricate and elaborate designs of wavy lines. In the center of the designs of a big, red, silken bow. Sakura's fingers fondled the smooth fabric.
'It's so soft! Wow, this dress must have been hand made. But who made it? Hyuga-san?'
A soft knock was heard on the door. Then a quiet, "Sakura-san?" Sakura cracked the door open. Hinata stood outside.
"Oh, Hello Hinata. I was just about to change. Is there anything you want?" Sakura was already acting maidly.
"Um, I-I just came to bring your other uniform," Hinata held up a different out fit. It looked almost like a Japanese Miko* outfit, except the sleeves weren't as long. Other than that, it was all stereotypical: white long-sleeved top and red pants.
((*Miko= Japanese priestess. I think you all know that already XD))
"Why? I already have an outfit. Why another one?" Sakura asked, taking the garment from Hinata's hands.
"B-because you would need another outfit to wear when you come to work when you're washing you're uniform," Hinata looked to the side shyly, not making eye contact with Sakura. "And if we have special guests over, you might have to wear a certain outfit. I hope that is ok with you."
Inner Sakura raised an
eyebrow. [Huh? What's with this girl?]
"That's okay Hinata! Really! I like both of these outfits very much. Thank you," Sakura grinned.
Hinata smiled and bowed. Sakura bowed back. Maybe working as a maid wouldn't be so bad, as long as she didn't have to put up with Hinata.
"Hinata, would your room just happen to be in the West Wing?" Sakura asked, sounding hopeful.
"Y-yes. It is. Is that were you clean?" Hinata looked down at her toes.
"It is! Oh, I'm so glad. That means I won't have to seen Neji all the time. He's your cousin right?" Sakura sang merrily and started to do a short victory dance.
"Yes, he's my cousin. But Sakura . . ."
"Huh?" Sakura stopped victory dancing.
"Neji . . . his room is in the West Wing too."
. . .
" . . . You're kidding."
"No. I'm sorry."
Sakura sulked. She buried her face in her hands.
"Gomen nasai Sakura! I didn't know you didn't like Neji. I know he's a bit cold but he's really okay," Hinata tried to comfort Sakura.
"Well, you know what they say Hinata," Hinata looked confused. "When life gives you lemons, eat your damn lemons!"
Hinata stood back. She hadn't expected that. But slowly, she began to smile.
"Yes . . . eat your lemons," she giggled.
They laughed for a few minutes. Neji could hear them all the way down the hall. He couldn't imagine what could be so funny.
What he wouldn't give for ear plugs . . .
--
Sakura finally pulled on her western style maid outfit. It hardly fit around her stomach. She found that she could only take lesser breaths than usual. It was difficult to bend down. She knew, she checked.
'Ooooooh, ooooooh, oooh! Ouch! Did they just guess my measurements?' Sakura thought as she bent down.
Sakura straighten herself back up again and check how she looked in the bathroom mirror. The dress came just below the end of her thighs. The sleeves followed the contours of her arms and the front wrapped closely around her belly. She was grateful that the actually dress part didn't cling to her or otherwise she wouldn't be able to move much, and that would just about kill her cleaning career.
Sakura then tied the apron around her waist. The hem was curved in the shape of an oval and a fist sized Konoha leave mark was stitched at the end.
Other than the fact that it was too tight in the place she least wanted it to be, she liked her uniform. It wasn't a lame as it could have been and wasn't skimpy or pervy at all, except it really emphasized her bust a little, but she was sure she could bat the hentais away.
A loud rapping on the door brought Sakura back to her senses.
"Are you done yet? Geesh, what is with girls taking forever to change? The house won't clean itself!" Neji said cruelly through the door.
Sakura groaned. "Coming!" and she stepped out of the door.
Sakura twirled a bit as if asking Neji "what'cha think?" but he supposedly didn't notice. Instead, he gave her the load down on what needed to be done.
"First off you need to wash, dry, and iron the clothes in the laundry room. If you burn a hole through my cloths you're gonna pay so you better watch it with the ironing. Then you need to clean the windows out in the foyer and living room. Next . . . pick up around the house, got that?" he explained slowly as if she was stupid and couldn't understand a word dribbling out over his lips.
"Sure, whatever Neji," Sakura turned to leave for the laundry room but a cold hand on her shoulder stopped her.
"What?" she asked, facing Neji.
"Don't call me that. In this house, you will address me as Neji-sama. I am your boss. You are working for my family and I now and you will call us by proper names," his eyes pierced hers with sharp glares.
Sakura was going to swear at Neji. Maybe even kick him were it counted. But visions of her mother and father drifted through her head. If she messed this up . . . if she lost her job . . . how could they pay the bills? They would lose their house and possibly live on the streets. Sakura gave in to Neji.
"I'm sorry Neji-sama . . . I messed up. It won't happen again," Sakura said flatly. She gazed down at the floor, refusing to look at Neji. In truth, she wanted to spit on him, but she had to help out her family, no matter what crap he put her through.
Neji stared down at her, taking in the feel that he had won. He had broken in another maid. He gave a contented smirk and started to leave Sakura, who was still peering down at nothing.
"Wait, Neji-er, sama! Where is the laundry room?" Sakura asked quickly before he turned the corner.
"Go back out of this hall and turn right. It's the second door to the left," he answered without stopping.
"Oh . . ."
--
'Ack! Stupid Neji! Who does he think he is? "No! Call me Neji-sama! You work for me now" ah-phooey. That jerk! I hope he dies and his corpse rots in the ground! [Hell yeah!] Sakura raved inside her head.
Just give me string- no; dental floss and I'll strangle that guy! I don't care want I use! Shoe strings, rope, or fishing line. I'M GONNA KILL THAT GUY!
Sakura rummaged threw the dried clothes and such. She pulled out a fluffy yellow towel and examined it. What had her mother always done with towels? Sakura tried to think back to the days when she had helped her mother do laundry.
Sakura began to play her mental movie. It was a lovely addition to her mind, like Inner Sakura, and allowed her to remember far back. Images came up clean and precise. Mental movies were also good for imagining boys -maybe such as Sasuke-kun- without shirts on or clad little blue Speedos, but who was she going to tell?
"Ah-ha! That's what she did!" Sakura said out loud to nobody. Sakura matched the long sides of the towel together then folded it in the middle once and then again. She laid it in the basket next to her feet. "Perfect!" she chirped, eyeing her work with pride.
Sakura dug in the pile again. "Let's see . . ."Sakura's tongue stuck out in a corner of her mouth. She was concentrating on finding fabric that felt right. "And the mystery item is . . . !" Sakura jerked the thing up from the depths of the cloths heap. Sakura's face fell quickly and her eyes became round a white.
She was holding up a pair of smiley face Joe-Boxer underwear.
To be more precise, they were boxers.
'Oh God, oh God, oh god! Underwear! ARGH!'
Sakura began to panic. Her eyes darted around the room nervously.
'Whose are these? What if they're Mr. Hyuga's? WHAT IF THEIR NEJI'S?! NOOOOOO!'
Sakura's body began to twitch.
'What to do? What to do? What to do?'
--
Neji wondered the halls. He looked at the windows. They were spotless.
'Looks like she's doing her job well.' Neji grinned. He passed by the laundry room door. He suddenly came to a halt.
Anxious vibes seemed to be cooped up inside that room. Neji could feel it even outside. He's fingers slowly slid across from one side of the door to the next.
'What's going on in there?'
Neji's hands twisted around the door knob. He turned it. Sakura had her back to him. She immediately turned her head.
"O-oh, h-hello there Ne-nej-S-sama! W-what are y-you doing h-here?" Sakura asked shakily.
"You stutter more than Hinata-sama," he commented slyly. He noticed Sakura had something in front of her that she wasn't showing him. "What are you hiding?"
"Nothing Neji-sama. I-I-I wouldn't hide a-a thing!"
"Is that so?" He raised an eyebrow. Sakura gulped. Sweat started to pour out from her forehead. She hoped Neji didn't notice. "Well in that case, I'm leaving."
"Y-you do that N-Neji-sama!" Sakura faked her smile.
Sakura blinked. Neji was gone. Was he that quick to exist a room? She sighed in relief.
Suddenly a pair of hands wrapped around her waist. Sakura screamed, but was quickly silenced as one familiar cold hand pressed over her mouth. She relaxed when it released her.
"Neji . . . sama," Sakura glowered.
"I want to know what you have in you hands," he smiled cruelly.
"Trust me, you don't want to see it," Sakura huffed.
"Let's just see about that . . ." He pried the mystery thing out of Sakura's hands and brought it up to his face.
"What the hell?" he looked at the boxers, confused. "Where did you get this?"
"Yeah . . . sorry about that. I found it in the cloths pile," Sakura said sadly.
[Told you so!]
Neji covered his face with his free hand. He looked embarrassed in that stance. Sakura could swear she saw red creep up on his mug.
"Hey Neji-sama. It's not like it was you're underwear, right?" Sakura said. She hated the dull mood. She wanted to liven it up with reassurance.
Neji stared at her, becoming redder by the second. The truth was so clearly written on his face. Sakura finally registered what was happening.
"Oh . . . my . . . god! Neji-sama that was your underwear?" She giggled.
"Don't you dare tell anyone!" he spat. "You do and you're as good as fired," he said as Sakura went into a hysterical fit of laughter.
"Don't worry Neji-sama! I'm sure lots of guys have . . . smiley face boxers," Sakura said, trying to keep her chuckles under control. Neji growled. Sakura could see he didn't trust her.
"Really Neji-sama. I won't tell anyone. I promise," she held out her pinky as a compromise.
"Whatever," he leered, not taking her pinky. He quickly gained back his cool attitude and left, slamming the door as he went.
--
Sakura picked up the last thing she could find on the floor of the West Wing. The Hyuga house was surprisingly clean. Some places you could practically eat off of. The only problem was that there was allot of dust everywhere. Sakura knew that both Hyuga families (both main and branch) lived together in one big building and that they all spent allot of time training outside.
And when they came inside they brought dirt and sweat with them.
Sakura sighed and suddenly became grateful that most of the rooms had hard wood floors. All she had to do was sweep around instead of lugging a heavy vacuum around.
Sakura saw a little girl walk past her. She was younger than her and looked to be around 11 or so. She had a hard but virtuous look in her eyes.
"Excuse me, little girl . . ." Sakura fallowed after her. The girl stopped.
"You're the new maid, aren't you?" the girl asked before Sakura could get a word out.
"Ah, yes I am. Could you please-"
"I'm Hanabi. I'm Hinata's younger sister. You're Haruno Sakura, right?" she was popping out questions to fast for Sakura to understand.
"Uh, yeah. Listen, I need to find the-"
"You're a ninja too, right?" she interrupted for the third time.
"Yes! Yes, I am. Now will you please tell me where you might keep the broom? I need to sweep," she finally said.
Hanabi studied Sakura's face. Sakura remember her teacher's words about the Hyuga eyes; they were so much more insightful than anyone else's. Sakura was sure that was correct now, because this girl did seem to have an air of wisdom around her. They were like Hinata's accept more confident.
"It's right over there. Let me show you . . ." Hanabi brought Sakura over the broom closet.
"Thanks Hanabi," Sakura beamed. She managed to get a small smile of the younger girl.
"You're welcome."
--
Sakura changed out of her maid outfit. She was glad to be wearing her normal and better fitting cloths again. She breathed in loudly. No more shorten breathes!
Sakura pulled her shoes back on and departed the building. Just halfway down the path to the gate she turned and saw Neji glaring daggers at her from a window. Sakura grinned deviously.
"Don't tell anyone," he mouthed.
"I won't . . . Neji-chan!" she mouthed back. She stuck out her tongue at him playfully. Neji replied with a similar gesture of sliding his finger across his neck as if to mean chopping off her head.
[Outside the house, I don't have to call you "Neji-sama."]
--
Sakura rushed home a hid the maid clothing under her bed. If by any chance Naruto or someone she knew stopped by the house and saw the uniforms, she would just die. Especially if it was Sasuke. What would he think of her then? She had to find out.
Sakura left the house once again. She was late for training.
--
"Sorry I'm late!" Sakura called from down the street. Sasuke and Naruto turned. Kakashi was with them.
"For a change, Sakura-kun, you are later than me," Kakashi said thoughtfully.
"Well, miracles do happen I suppose," she put a hand behind her head.
"We seriously thought you wouldn't come today Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried. "Are you sick or something?"
"No, I just got . . . side-tracked, that's all," she lied. Everyone nodded, seeming to believe her.
"Must have been interesting if you are this late. What did you find?" Kakashi leaned in closer and added in a whisper, "Another volume of Come Come Paradise?"
Sakura's face flushed. "No! That's not it, Sensei. Really."
[You damn pervert!]
The Jounin laughed. "Alright then. Well, I suppose I should tell you that we are just training today. Nothing special. Now, get to work my fine ninja friends," he vanished in a puff of smoke.
The other two went off in their separate directions in the forest, leaving Sakura in her own little area. She fallowed after Sasuke. She found him practicing seals and burning tree stumps to ashes.
"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked. He stopped and faced her.
"Hm?"
"I really need to talk to you about something. I know it may not seem important to you but I have to ask you," Sakura breathed.
Sasuke stood his ground. Sakura sounded serious. He decided he was willing to talk to her.
"Tell me what the matter is," he said with some caring emotion in his voice. Not the amount that Sakura was hoping for but she could deal with it.
"You know how allot of girls like you? Well I have this friend you see, and I can't really tell you who it is because you might start to think little of her," she paused and looked at Sasuke for a reaction. He hardly expressed any emotion.
Sakura continued on. "And her parents are having a really hard time now-a-day's with money and stuff, so she had to get a job . . . as a maid. D-do you think that is a degrading job for someone? Serving others? Because she really likes you, you know?" Sakura look her chances and added on to her statement. "She would do anything for you."
There was silence between them for a long time. Sasuke didn't move. He didn't blink. But behind his eyes, Sakura could tell he was thinking. Sasuke was getting easier to read. Not saying that it was a simple task or anything. That wasn't the case. Sakura and Sasuke just knew each other better.
"Why . . . are you telling me this?" Sasuke asked.
"Because. I need to know," Sakura sighed.
"Ok," he sat down next to her on a large tree stump.
"Chances are that I already think very little of your friend already. I don't really care about crushes or silly girl fantasies. But serving others is like being a puppet. You have no control over what you want to do. In short, I would despise who ever you're talking about. I don't want to have anything to do with them."
"Oh," she said sadly. Sasuke gave her a quizzical look, but said nothing. "I'll just leave you alone now," Sakura headed back to her own training area.
--
His words played over in her head. Sasuke would hate her. She would be the same as dirt. He would always see her as a puppet if he knew.
Sakura felt her heart breaking. She would have to lie to them. If one word got out on the streets, it would be all over for her.
Sakura promised, she would never tell anyone about her being a maid.
She would have to silence the Hyuga's too.
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Wow~! That took a long time to write. Sorry for the slow updates and everything. For about a month and a half (something like that. I dunno. I don't keep track XD) I was coming up a plot with Vivian for a new SakuNeji fic. It's called White Christmas and its on oOoshortayoOo's account. We're co-writing it together ~^. ^~. It took allot of compromise and give and take but it was done. We got the first chapter up. Check it out!!! Be sure also, to check out Vivian's first fic "A Shinobi's Smile" I think you'll like it. : ) much.
So I think my next update for my stories will by Dirty Tricks. I want to get that finished before I start posting up more chapters of Love Song Unsung. So I think you can look forward to that. But be warned it might not happen. I'm kind of a random person, lol.
As for Neji's character in this fic, I sort of want him to tease Sakura. He's gonna put Sakura through allot of hell, as you can tell. More emotionally than anything else. How many of you guys think she'll fall for Neji in the end? Ha, I know the answer but you'll just have to wait and see! XD Trust me folks, it going to be a long fic. This is what, the third chapter and it's only the first day?
Pay attention, everyone! The chandelier is going to be an important part of Sakura's life. Also, there will be a short Hanabi story arc. Just wait and see.
Can Sakura keep Sasuke from finding out? Hmmmm . . .
Note: does anyone want to know what inspired Working in the Hyuga Household? It was a picture I found through the msn search engine. I was looking for NejiSaku or Sakuenji and I found this. Its all in Japanese an I can't read it (wish I could) and its basically a fic (I think) with a pic attached. Here is the link: