Ahh...just wasting time. (Sigh). This is sorta, random. AND A.U.!


Sango sighed audibly for probably the hundredth time that day. Her half-lidded and ultimately bored, dark eyes lazily shifted from product to product as the teen's hand sporadically shifted through the boxes. The lame elevator-like music played in the background from the barely perceptible speakers in the corners of the convenient store. The place reeked of malnutured vegetables and plastic. From the way she rolled her eyes once she stepped in the store, one would think she had been here many times before.

It was getting late; there were only two other people here besides herself and the lone cashier. It looked as if he was the last roustabout to work in this dump this late in the afternoon. Sango wondered why she had volunteered to do last second shopping this late at night.

Frustrated with looking for the exact brand of shampoo Kagome had mentioned, Sango grabbed the first thing she saw and threw it in the cart. Her hair retaliated as she quickly turned and headed for the counter.

With the shopping done early, she'd be able to stop at the bookstore and pick up her brother's birthday present. It was tomorrow, anyway.

Finally standing behind the second person in line, Sango decided to keep herself preoccupied by flipping through the magazines that seemed to never update by the countertop. She let herself lean on the counter, her cart by her side.

'Hm. Looks like he was finally arrested…that damn pervert.' Sango thought, looking at the man with handcuffs around his wrists on the glossy page.

The woman's musings let times pass enough for the first person to leave the mart with bags in their hands. One more person and she could finally get out of here. Looking away from the magazine still poised in her hand, Sango gazed down at the amount the person had decided to ring up—only to sigh. She wouldn't have been surprised to find out the woman had bought half the store.

Sango put the magazine back in place and turned in her spot to lean her elbows on the counter instead. She found herself looking at all the different gums and goods stacked along the wall beside the cashier. Due to the fact that they were out of hand-reach, Sango prompted that many had tried to steal the small goods from the rundown store. Her fingers began to impatiently tap, noiselessly hitting her arm.

The teenager languidly let her gaze wander to the cashier. She noticed he looked just as bored as she did, as well as annoyed at the amount the woman had decided to buy so late at night.

He looked out of place, as if he wasn't from around here. The cashier had bronze skin and dark long ebony hair—pulled into a loose braid that he let drape over his shoulder onto his chest. The man had the usual uniform required to work in the store on, except for the fact that he had rebelliously loosened his green tie, fully unbuttoned his outer white dress shirt revealing a black tee underneath, as well as rolling his baggy sleeves to his elbows. His black baggy pants were being held up by a rather punk-looking belt, metal points adorned all over. Around his neck were large headphones, popular amongst the teen crowd as an accessory rather than a mechanic. Even so, Sango could hear the low rhythm of music from the headphones, though she was sure he had been told to reduce the volume, due to the fact that she could now barely hear what he was listening to. Her eyes followed the wire and found it to be connected to something within his pocket.

Other than his skin color, he was obviously a normal teen with better things to do than ring up an old woman's many groceries.

Sango's thoughts then strayed to the chewy thing in her mouth. The old and tasteless gum began to make her jaw hurt, since she couldn't just keep gum in her mouth without chewing. Sango looked around, wondering where an eligible trash could be.

Not find any, she impulsively spit the gum into her palm. Now wondering whether she would be able to just drop it without the young cashier noticing, Sango stared at the gum.

A white square flew into her vision, which when she focused on something besides her gum, she found to be a napkin.

"Put it there, theres a can behind the counter." A deep masculine, yet boyish, voice said.

Sango looked up to see the cashier continually ringing up the woman's belongings. His eyes remained on the scanner, as if he wasn't even talking to her.

Even so, Sango grabbed the napkin and placed her gum inside. She rolled the napkin into a ball and muttered thanks, passing it to him. The guy took it and threw it in the garbage for her.

The girl then leaned back down to her previous position of leaning on the counter with her elbows, this time letting her chin rest on her palm. The other hand resumed drumming the counter, obviously more audible because of surface differences.

Suddenly, Sango felt a timid touch to her shoulder, which snapped her out of her thoughts.

"I'm sorry to bother you dear," Sango realized the old woman was talking to her. She noticed the cashier watching lazily as he chewed his own gum—hand in his pockets. "But I have dropped my melon…"

Sango's eyes looked to where the woman was pointing, to see it had rolled all the way down an isle, and was starting to turn a corner out of visage.

She sweat-dropped. It was as if it had a mind of it's own—trying to go back home or something.

The teen looked towards the cashier, maybe he would fetch it like a gentleman should. Sango sighed, watching him carelessly lean on the register, picking at his nails—obviously avoiding eye contact and getting out of being asked.

Sango saw that the melon seemed to be the last unpurchased item.

"Sure." With that, Sango jogged past them and headed towards the mobile melon.


Bankotsu watched the woman jog after the fruit, sighing in relief. His hands dropped to his side in a more relaxing position. He was quite lazy when it came to last customers, especially since he had never worked overtime before. Bankotsu only had 30 more minutes or work left and he could go home.

"That was not very nice of you, boy."

Surprised, Bankotsu looked to the old lady to see her giving him a reprimanding look.

"Wha…?"

"As a gentlemen, you should have gotten it." It looked as if the woman wasn't willing to argue as she dug through her colossal purse.

"…Uh, sorry." Was this lady actually castigating him? And what was with that scary look?

The young woman came back, an even more irritated look on her face. Maybe the melon put up a fight.

"Why thank you, dear!" The once cruel granny praised.

The woman forced a smile on her heart-shaped face, telling the old lady it was no problem. Instead of letting the old woman handle the heavy fruit, she personally handed the cashier the melon before going back to her own business.

--

He typed in the necessary amount due and ran his finger through his bangs.

"Total cost is $167.87, that's including tax."

"Oh, dear…" The woman sighed ruefully.

Sango watched from the corner of her eyes as the woman continued to dig through papers within the purse. The lady grabbed random handfuls of money and set them down on the counter, leaving the cashier to irritably smooth out each and every dollar.

"It'd be nice if you helped."

Bankotsu was surprised as she quickly retaliated.

"You're the cashier—maybe you should work a bit faster, huh?" Sango replied, irked.

The cashier smirked, "I could if you helped." His eyes remained on the dollars he was simultaneously smoothing on he edge of the countertop.

What a day. Waking up on the floor, Sango began to get dressed for the day. Halfway through, she realized her shirt was backwards—as well as forgetting her college paper on the printer. After classes, Sango decides to sit and relax at a café, only to realize the café was down for repairs. Walking home, since her car had decided to break down in the café parking lot, Sango gets a phone call saying the light in her house will be temporary out due to the fact that her landlord had forgotten all about the bills she had already paid, and punished her. Later, Kagome, her roommate, mentions something about late-night shopping for groceries and hair-supplies—and for some reason Sango volunteers.

Darkly, Sango grabbed a few dollars and harshly tried to smooth them.

Bankotsu looked towards her, "Ah, that's so nice of you."

"Yes, thank you!" The old woman smiled.

Sango grumbled incoherent words under her breath.


All they did was bicker and argue; even the old woman began to tune them out. She doesn't remember how or when, but suddenly she heard them argue about which majority of gender was at fault for relationship break ups. All the old woman wanted was for the cashier to finish stuffing all of her belongings in the bag—but even that seemed to be an unlikely wish.

Sango stood, her arms crossed under her chest as she leaned on the counter, speaking to the cashier over her shoulder.

"You can't honestly believe women actually plan beforehand when the break up will be final. If anything it's the men who drive the woman into counting."

Atleast now they weren't yelling.

"Hah!" Bankotsu feigned a chuckle, grabbing random fruits and dropping them in the brown bag. "If anything, it's the women who make the men insane-thus maybe getting the men to aggravate the women."

"And you're saying thats what would make the women start counting down the days until they breakup with a man? You're so dumb, have you ever thought that maybe the men are just egotistical jerks who just want a woman for her body?" Sango sent him an evil look.

"You cant always categorize us from what you constantly hear from your friends and the news, you stupid woman!"

Ah—now the old lady remembered how this conversation had started. The 'woman' comment.

Sango turned all the way around and slammed her palms onto the counter, "What do you mean by that!"

Bankotsu suddenly scoffed and turned away from her, not wanting to begin this all over again. He put all the bags, a total of 9, on the other side of the counter for the old lady to receive, not even thinking about the difficulty of carrying 9 bags.

Sango opened her mouth to yell at the young cashier when the old woman raised a polite finger in the air.

"Oh, uh, sorry to interrupt—but could you two help me bring these into the car? My tired hands won't possibly help me." She laughed.

Bankotsu and Sango gave eachother a hateful look before they both took a few bags and marched out of the market in complete silence. The old woman lagging behind.

In mid-march, they realized they didn't have a clue as to where the old lady's car was, so they stopped and turned—waiting for the old woman.

By the time the old woman had caught up to the two angry college students, she heard them going at it again.

"What!" The cashier yelled frantically.

"Oh, my fault—I forgot you were an idiot." The woman replied haughtily.

"Ragh! You're so…ARUGHH!"

Taking that as temporary defeat, the young woman smiled at him (if not giving a hint of cruelty) and set the groceries down in the opened trunk. Bankotsu followed her, silently standing beside her and rearranging the bags to fit his own.

The old woman got into her car and waited for the two to shut the trunk once they were finished. There silence before she heard their voice quarreling over something once again.

--

"Excuse me, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

"You don't need to rearrange my groceries like that, they're fine."

"And where would I put mine, then?"

"Just put them in already—you're wasting everyone's time."

"Don't tell me what to do woman—"

"Would you quite calling me that!"

"Fine, BOY."

"YOU!"

"What are you gonna do? Hurt me with that small boyish fist?"

Suddenly the old woman could hear deep laughter.

"Hah-OW! What the—"

The sounds were suddenly cut off as she heard the trunk close.

--

Sango stuck her tongue out at the cashier before walking over to the driver's window. Soon enough, Bankotsu joined her—rubbing his cheek. That alone earned a confused look from the old woman, but she shook it off. The young lady leaned down to the window, while the cashier rebelliously crossed his arms and looked off to the side, scoffing.

The old lady placed a reassuring smile on her face at the sight of Sango's surprisingly out-of-place grin.

"Thank you for all your help today, I appreciate it all."

"You're welcome." Sango stated kindly for both of them.

"But before I go…may I ask…are you two married?"

Silence.

When no one answered, the woman tried to explain. "Well it's just, you two bicker like a married couple."

Looking over her shoulder, Sango caught Bankotsu gaze as they looked to eachother, almost disgusted. Almost.

Sango stood to her full height, not wanting the old woman see her blushing cheeks. Unexpectedly, Bankotsu let out the loudest laugh anyone had heard. He bent over, wailing with laughter.

"TO THIS WOMAN? AHAHAH…"

Both females looked at the cashier, one giving him a fiercer look than the other did.

Out of generosity, the old woman left the humiliating scene, leaving Sango to look at the cashier through a narrowed gaze.

Finally, the cashier settled down, breathing heavily. Once he stood up fully, he gave the young woman a smile that had remained on his face at the mere idea of marriage to this woman. There were tears at the corners of his eyes, and that was enough to frustrate the college woman.

'Such an embarrassing…fool!'

Once her fist connected with his shoulder with unsightly strength, Sango marched back to store.

When Bankotsu found her, he saw she was taking the liberty of scanning her own items. Coming up behind her the cashier leaned on the wall, watching her from behind.

The woman beat him to first words. "You would be the worst kind of husband ever, no way I'd even think about marrying you."

"Oh yeah? And what kind would be the best for you?"

She chuckled, "Definitely everything you're not."

That struck a nerve. "Well atleast I would be tolerable. You're so infuriating it hurts my brain to even think about conversing with you."

"I bet it even hurts your brain to think of what 1 + 1 equals…" Sango muttered under her breathe.

"What was that!"

Sango grinned, merely shrugging her shoulders.

"…Just… shut up and get back to work."

"Excuse me? This is YOUR job!"

"Well you so willingly rung up everything—I'd think maybe you wanted this job."

"Agh! I…I give up on you."

Bankotsu smirked. "And that's why women are always the underdog."

Rolling her dark orbs, Sango began to put the items in bags after putting her money in the register.

After a moment of quiet, Bankotsu muttered under his breath. Why he said it loud enough for her to hear, she would never know.

"Marry you…I wouldn't even date you."

"Keh." Sango scoffed aloud.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing."

"…You don't believe me?" Bankotsu remarked, amused.

"I didn't say that."

"But you meant it…"

Sango chortled, turning around to look straight into his blue eyes. "Do you want me to admit that I don't believe you wouldn't date me?"

It had taken a few moments to understand what she said, but finally he got it. "…No…"

With a snigger, Sango turned and continued to finish her groceries. "You wouldn't even be able to handle me."

"…Hah. I can handle any girl. Don't even say something like that."

"Oh yeah?"

"Hell yeah."

There was a moment of silence as she finished grouping together her bags in her arms, ready to go.

"Prove it."


"You've got to be kidding me."

"Agh! Would you just tell me what I did wrong so I can fucking fix it, already? Sheesh—I've always hated those faces you make…"

"Well can you blame me? Look what you did this time!"

"Yes—I can blame you. I always blame you, Sango."

"That's why you always get out of things so easily, isn't it?"

"C'mon Sango, don't be cruel."

"The day you show me nothing to be cruel about is the day I won't be cruel."

"…"

The two shared a light laugh, looking at the horribly spelt words beside the front door. Bankotsu was supposed to paint, 'The Shikai Residence.' Not 'The Shikai Resdunce.'

Sango let her head rest on his shoulder as she sighed.

"Why did I ever get married to a fool?"


Hehehe...just a bit of good ol' humor.

-M