Chapter One: The Meeting
"Ugh," The blonde haired worker lazily drug her dust covered broom to the dust pan, taking immense care into not missing a single dust bunny. "how many more hours?" She squinted at the methodically ticking clock, but a rosy haired girl that was chewing on her pencil tiredly blocked her view. "Oi, Sakura!" At the brief glance of irritation from her companion, Ino went on, "What time is it?"
With a sigh of annoyance to the besetting worker, the irate worker glanced briefly at the wooden clock. "It's only 5:30, now get back to work!" She muttered angrily and spun the pencil between her fingers out of pure habit. As Ino scuffled away and proclaimed her supposed indifference to the girl's remarks, Sakura rubbed her eyes tiredly and tried to focus on the math paper resting peacefully on the oak wooden table. The numbers blurred and the girl only ended up getting a headache. Her mouth tightened in annoyance at being disturbed as another client walked in, but the employee plastered a skillful smile on her face. "Hello, welcome to the Haruno flower shop. I am Sakura; how may I help you?" The phrase mechanically replayed in her mind again as the dark haired boy just stood there and looked at her. "Um, sir?" Her rose colored eyebrow twitched uncomfortably at his never ending silence. She sighed and ran a hand through her messy hair which was piled into an unkempt ponytail. The ponytail swayed softly as Sakura gave the boy a pointedly annoyed look.
"I want roses." He finally said in a monotone.
"Alright," The trained worker mentally went through all the colors, "what color would you like, sir?"
He didn't answer her but walked over to the cooler that was in plain view. Silently, the dark haired boy pointed towards yellow colored roses. "Right…" She trailed uncertainly at his behavior. "Would you like the cash and carry deal, or in a vase?"
His dark eyes finally looked over to her. "In a vase."
"Okay," The girl said slowly and raised an eyebrow, "in a vase it is then. Please come over to the counter and I will have the florist make it up for you right away." She gave a pseudo grin at his placid stare and quickly walked towards the counter. "Lina," Sakura whispered to the gray haired woman, "this costumer wants twelve dozen yellow roses in a vase, you think you could do that really quick?"
Lina grinned and nodded, "You underestimate my skills, dear."
She rolled her eyes and smiled, "Of course, now go get it ready!" The silent guy was standing at the counter when she turned around, his chin in his hand and looking at the cards to his right intently. "Right. Sir," Sakura got his attention and smiled her infamous work grin. His bored charcoal eyes turned back towards her. "this will be 90 yen, please." She said in what was her opinion of a pleasant tone.
Lina came back with the greenery and roses just as the operative was giving him his change. "Thank you very much, we appreciate your business." She said with a pseudo sweet smile.
He didn't reply but instead turned his stare from the returned change to Sakura, and it didn't seem as if his eyes were going to budge. She fidgeted uncomfortably on the black chair as Lina just hummed along to a tune only known to her. The uncomfortable girl squirmed again in her seat and wondered if Lina bought these seats on purpose to make her employees uncomfortable when sitting. With his gaze still on the rosy haired girl, Sakura fixed her eyes on the white walls and sniffed quite loudly, trying to get him to advert the black eyes from her form. Her teeth came down upon my bottom lip, more as a gesture of annoyance than as a gesture of nervousness, as she squirmed again. The worker flicked her gaze towards him, but he was still in the same position as she last saw him. Sakura's temper flared in annoyance. "Look buddy, if you're going to just stare at me, then at least make it less noticeable!" She yelled at his calm face. A beat of silence followed as an audible gasp came from her grandmother.
Lina dropped the knife she had been holding to cut the flowers. "Sakura Hanuro, that was unacceptable! To think, my own niece assaulting my costumers! Gomen, Sakura did not know what she was thinking!" The old woman turned back towards Sakura, her arthritis weary wrist pointing directly towards the rosy haired girl. "Apologize at once." The worker glared at the ground instead of her boss while muttering an apology that was barely heard. "Say it again." Lina demanded, and she raised her pink tresses defiantly towards her aging grandmother.
Her jade eyes flicked to the stony ebony gaze that had caused her to lose her short fused temper. "Gomen, your majesty." Sakura bit out clearly, anger flashing in her green eyes towards the blank stare. Sakura's hand twitched uncomfortably under his gaze, only making her temper get to the boiling point, but that wasn't quite the feat to do anyways. "If you will excuse me…" She said with venom and got off the black wooden chair to go head to do something more productive than have a staring contest with a costumer.
"My name's Uchiha Sasuke." His voice made the agitated girl turn back around to him with wide eyes. The dissolved Uchiha clan was well known over the town; maids giggled about the new proclaimed single brothers, Itachi and Sasuke, the only known living Uchiha members left, while men whispered angrily as the two brothers passed, jealous of their wealth and fame.
"Mr. Uchiha," Lina panicked, ready to get down on her hands and knees, it seemed; "I will fire Sakura, but please don't take my flower shop away from me!" Her voice was urgent and hurried, her hands clasped together in worry as she looked to the young man before her. The old beat up shop was crumbling from years of work being done inside its walls, anyways, but this shop had been a family heirloom to the Haruno family, and Lina still had yet to pass it on to her granddaughter. She didn't even know if Sakura would want the beaten up old building that stood out like a sore thumb in the middle of a modern, busy street. Which brought up the question that puzzled the old woman greatly: why would Sasuke come to a place like this, when he could go to a much higher ranking florist in town?
Whipping towards her grandmother now, Sakura stared at the wrinkled face of Lina with her mouth agape. She managed to stutter a few words of her inconceivable betrayal from her only family member left. "Don't fire her." Sasuke drawled out with a bored tone. "I would like my roses now." He motioned to the finished vase sitting on Lina's work table, and the girl nodded ardently, a signal she no longer wanted to be in the presence of the boy. Sasuke seemed to react to the girl's furious nods as he now corrected his stare towards the flushed employee.
"Um…" Sakura said impatiently and met the dark coals. "You were leaving…?"
"You know what? I think I might stay now." His face was blank, his tone matching harmoniously with the placid look of indifference etched in between his skin. Couldn't the man just let some kind of emotion show? Even pure hatred would be better than the annoyingly calm look he seemed to have mastered.
The rosy haired girl let out a huff of frustration and pointed an accusing finger at the renowned business man, not particularly paying attention to the death glares currently coming from the owner of Haruno Flowers, and growled, "You listen to me, because I'm only going to say it once." She paused to let the words sink in, and if she had squinted, the girl would have seen a smile tugging on the boy's lips. "You're going to leave this little shop to never return again and go blissfully on your way willingly," Summoning up her courage, Sakura walked up to Sasuke and poked him in the shoulder in what was supposed to be an intimidating gesture. The latter's lips scowled at her sheer boldness but kept silent as the girl motioned a shooing gesture with her hands. Upon seeing him immovable, Sakura gave an exasperated growl. "Or I will make you!" She finished in a flurry of hand motions.
"Young woman, that is certainly enough." Said Lina in a calm voice. Her tongue and chin froze from just her grandmother's voice as Sakura stopped in a sentence that was going to tell Sasuke off again. Her granddaughter grumbled something along the lines of life is so unfair and that she should get more privileges than a mere customer; after all, she was blood related to the flower shop owner. "Thank you for your business, sir." The woman said tightly to the black haired boy, and with a nod, he was already out of the door with the dangling of chimes from the door the only evidence he had been there at all. Well, that, and the fact that Sakura was now in a dangerous and fowl mood for the rest of her workday, making the once haven become a nightmare for the aging woman who only sighed at the outbursts the young girl would have about the rich bachelor named Sasuke.
"Sakura-chan!" The blonde owner of the short tempered girl's favorite restaurant called out to one of his perennial customers excitedly. He waved her over before making all his employees that had been staring at the newcomer with interest get back to work with a wave of his hand. "Welcome, my dear Sakura-chan," Naruto mocked a gallant bow, "to the infamous, wonderful Ramen Haven!" His long time friend cracked a lopsided grin at the amusing antics.
"Ramen Haven, eh?" She said good naturedly, continuing with their usual routine; "Interesting name, Naruto." Sakura stopped midway into giving her blonde haired friend a hug when she spotted someone in her usual seat just chewing down on their ramen. She managed to give Naruto a death grip hug. "Who's that in my seat?" The girl hissed in her friend's ear.
"Your…" Before he could think of what to do next, Naruto was rapidly spun around so that he could look at her regular seat in the back corner of the shop, "seat?" He finished weakly and slowly stepped away with a grin on his face. "That's my old buddy, Sasuke, who just came down into this part of town for a visit." His blue eyes were alight with excitement as he pulled her towards the raven haired boy. "Come on! Come on! Come visit with him!"
Sakura hit, bit, and even sank her nails into Naruto's skin to save herself from the demon known as Sasuke's wrath, but alas, she was roughly pushed down into her seat, only to start to rise, but then be pushed back down. The florist worker had an unhappy pout on her face as she turned towards the calmly eating boy in front of her; he was still in her acclaimed seat. All the stubborn girl did was give into the somewhat uneasy silence on her part, but a fairly calm silence on his part. Sakura cleared her throat noisily as she turned to look towards the multiple pictures framed and set on the walls. An elated grin wound its threads through the corners of her mouth and lifted up as she recounted the photos with herself and Naruto in them. "Hey, Naruto!" She called out to the now cooking boy. "You still have this picture?" The other customers looked at her, annoyed, but she paid them no heed as another grin tugged itself onto her face. Naruto stuck his head out of the kitchen's door to squint at the unfamiliar picture, but then his memory clicked and a sheepish grin floated onto his face.
The manager nodded quickly at her as one of his workers grabbed him back into the kitchen with a panic. "How annoying." Sasuke said clearly, his black gaze now fixated upon her emerald one. "You're becoming to be increasingly annoying." He said again before paying for the meal and walking into the kitchen. Sakura burned an agitated stare at the swinging door before deciding to follow the silent boy. Without thinking twice about it, she quickly grabbed the empty ramen bowl to be cleaned for the next lucky user it happened upon. Jade eyes looked at the wooden bowl in disgust in thinking that she would have to eat out of it next. Cooties. She glumly thought in all seriousness. And he had sat in her chair! Sakura made a mental note to pick up some desensitizing wipe cloths on her way out of the kitchen.
The rosy haired girl entered the kitchen with an excited air about her. She had never been in the kitchen, but as she looked around, Sakura found that it was nothing special; it just suited its purpose, and that purpose was to serve food. It wasn't dirty, but it wasn't spectacularly clean; what else could she expect from manager such as Naruto? That boy was a walking pig sty. Seeing a sink full of soapy water, the teen plopped Sasuke's empty ramen bowl into the sink as she continued to the sound of voices talking.
"-take care of my own store," Naruto's slightly annoyed voice came around the corner. She remembered the time when her blonde friend would get that tone to his voice; it was always when he was being beaten by one of his top rivals. The funny thing was, he actually admired his rivals, yet always strived to be better than them. He never gave up.
"Obviously not, otherwise you wouldn't be in debt." Sasuke's gruff reply came back to the owner. The eavesdropper almost jumped at the sound of his cold voice. Naruto's shop was in debt? Her pink eyebrows furrowed in confusion; she had always thought Naruto was better off than her, always making money, because he had shown it with all the Christmas gifts he would shower on his friends. As annoying as he was during the holidays, she could always count on him to get her a gift, even if they were in a tiff.
"I don't need your charity work, Sasuke." Sakura felt like stepping out and making her presence known, but before she could even put that thought into action, the raven haired boy grasped the collar to her shirt and pulled her around the corner. His normally blank eyes had anger flecked in them as he stared her own agitated green eyes down.
A throat cleared, and the angry electricity between the two people evaporated when the furious stares at having to see one another in a place they loved were sent Naruto's way. The wrongly accused boy held up his hands defensively, but winced at both their glares all the same. Sakura sighed and softened her gaze from her friend, but Sasuke never turned his head. "Idiot." He murmured. "You're going to regret this, Naruto." He acidly said, causing an irate look to cross the blonde boy's face, before the Uchiha walked out of the kitchen, his foot steps silent.
A/N: So, off to a good start? Alright then, please do tell. I have the next few chapters made up already, so I'll probably post in a week or so. .