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Chapter 2
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Business was slow that day. Ino stood by the counter as she ran through the pages of an old catalogue of flower decorating. There was no one in the shop except for her and Hinata, who was checking the list of billings for the month. The small television on top of the cabinet was on and a food commercial was playing.
"We haven't hit the quota yet, Ino-chan." Hinata said, approaching from the opposite side of the counter with the list on hand.
"Yeah…" Ino groaned. "I was thinking of having some ads printed on the newspaper. Or maybe make some kind of discounts to get more people ordering." She breathed out impatiently, putting a hand on her waist. "What's wrong with men nowadays? Are there too few guys in the world that's sweet enough to surprise their partners with flowers from time to time?"
Hinata giggled. "It's the modern technology's fault."
There was a news flash on the television and it showed a brunette reporter at a hall entrance. She was wearing a striped dress and was talking to the camera. A few people in formal attire could be seen on the background.
"Good afternoon! We're live at the main lobby of Keio Plaza Hotel to check on the launch of a new men's perfume collection called Immortality." The reporter greeted. "Celebrities and musicians have come by to support and try the products, and it's making a fuss! Now, what differentiates this new collection from other branded perfumes? We have the founder and the head of the Jashin Corporation to introduce and speak to us about this new brand."
The reporter walked towards a young man whose shoulder-length silver hair was sleekly brushed up behind his head. He had dark brown eyes, was wearing a gray suit and a maroon neck tie. He looked refined and confident. His lips twisted in a smirk when the camera faced him and the reporter stood by his side. Several cameras flashed on them.
"We have here one of the most eligible bachelors and one of the youngest magnate in the country, Jashin Corporation's handsome CEO, Mr. Yugakure Hidan." The reporter introduced.
Ino turned and stared at the screen after hearing the name, one hand clutching the folded catalogue firmly on the table.
Hinata heard it, too, and glanced from her to the TV. She noticed how her face turned expressionless as she watched.
"Hidan-san, you've been coming up with different products recently, ranging from clothing lines to shoes. And now, you've also developed a new perfume brand. Can you introduce Immortality to our viewers?" The reporter beamed at him.
Hidan looked at the camera and gave a sly smile. He stood there straight and comfortably.
"Immortality perfume represents desire and the lure of people to leave a distinct mark in the world. We've tried different scents from Europe and finally came up with a scent that would fit men and approve the taste of women in their lives, too." He said with ease.
The reporter giggled and they continued to chat and discuss as Ino watched with a straight face.
"That would seem to appeal to the young professional men. Where can we see the products after the launch?"
"We'll be opening at the Roppongi Hills by next week and would like to invite everyone to drop by and check the collection of perfumes which I'm sure would give a boost to your everyday mood and lifestyle." Hidan grinned at the camera.
"Speaking of lifestyle, you've been a very busy man, haven't you? Attending launches here and there. Going to parties and cruising. The only thing that seems to be missing is a partner. Won't you be introducing a date to us anytime soon?" The reporter asked eagerly.
Hidan gave a short manly laugh. "We're all looking for the right person. I'm afraid I don't meet women of my certain type often. I love the decent, soft-hearted kind. Someone who can accept me for who and what I am—"
The screen went black as Ino grabbed the remote and turned it off.
She plopped the catalogue back on the counter without grace and started turning the pages again. This time more quickly and impatiently.
Hinata noticed the mood change and she knew she wasn't reading the contents at all.
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Naruto could hear the moaning from one of the dark private karaoke rooms at the back of Gamabunta's Bar and Café as he grabbed the ice bucket he just re-filled from the storage.
At first sight, one would think that Gam's is just like any other coffee shop: with several coffee tables and displays of coffee beans, liquors, and pastries. But if you enter the dark red door at the back of the counter where the baristas are stationed, you would find out there are four private karaoke rooms lined up, complete with velvet curtains and swinging doors. The boys use them at night to entertain clients if they want to get intimate.
Two of them were occupied that night and Naruto was getting annoyed by Gaara's loud client in one of the rooms. He walked passed them and saw that the curtain and door was half opened. A topless Gaara was running his lips on the neck of a girl in pink underwear. The karaoke microphone was left hanging from the table next to them and the dim lights was swirling around the room.
Naruto grumbled and pulled the curtains shut before heading back out to the main café area. He slammed the ice bucket on the counter where Sasuke was lining up ten shot glasses. It was a full-house tonight and everyone was either busy bartending, table-waiting, or entertaining customers. The usual drinkers were settled on the tables and at the beer counter.
"I can't believe Kakashi made me work tonight! It's supposed to be my day off. I'm supposed to be eating chips and watching a game show right now." He whined.
"Care for a shot?" Sasuke took a bottle of gin and poured them to all ten shot glasses in one long swing.
Naruto drummed his fingers for a moment before getting one and swallowing it down. He flinched at the taste and set aside the empty glass.
Even if they're employees of the place, customers expect them to be drinking, too. Several would even invite them on their tables and drink with them. They would entertain them, and they do drink but not too much since who else would be serving them afterwards, anyway?
Two girls came to take one each of the glasses and smiled at Sasuke. One of them winked. "Thanks, sweetie."
He pulled another glass and started to make a margarita. Naruto grabbed the list of drink orders from the counter and glowered down at it. Kakashi was sitting at one of the round tables, chatting and entertaining three women, one arm resting around one of the girls. They were laughing and giggling.
"Well, you're not in the back room tonight." Naruto said as he started making cocktails, too.
"Gaara and Shino seems to be doing a good job." Sasuke shrugged.
The most in-demand boys in Gam's is Sasuke and Gaara. Five and One. They never share their real names, unless the customers have really gotten close to them. Both of them were not placed in the same shift in the past, but Jiraiya has been less stricter with the schedule nowadays. They're not sure where he is exactly right now because he claimed he doesn't want to be disturbed with his book writing. He wanted to shut himself in an island. They'e not sure if it's a memoir of a man-whore or a porn book.
Naruto bent down to get a knife, but instead he felt something hard and rectangular. He pulled it under the counter and saw a hardbound book entitled 'Cosmos' with a picture of a galaxy on the background.
"What the hell is this?" he asked.
Sasuke glanced at him before putting some salt around the glass. "A book."
"Duh?!" Naruto exclaimed.
Sasuke laughed. "That's mine. I got bored this morning and read it for a while."
"Since when do you read science books?" Naruto wrinkled his nose. He took a knife and started slicing a lime.
"Since I got bored watching all the bullshit on TV." Sasuke stated.
"Konbanwaaa!"
Sasuke and Naruto looked up to see a guy with a bowl-cut hairdo arriving and sitting at the counter opposite them. He was wearing a green button-down shirt. He had wide round eyes and had a big smile on his face.
"Yo, wassup, bushy brows." Naruto greeted.
"One cold bottle of beer, please." He ordered.
Sasuke grabbed one and opened it before sliding it over the counter to him.
Rock Lee was a regular at the bar. Naruto and Sasuke often gets into street fights during their teenage years, and they met him in one of those messes.
Actually, the story was Sasuke first met Naruto in a street fight, too, when he was seventeen and was new in Tokyo. He was walking home one day and saw a group of older guys ganging up on the blonde goofball. One of his eyes was sore and his mouth was bloody when he first saw him, but they could not keep him down on the ground. He kept standing up to them. Somehow, this reminded Sasuke of his days in Hagi—when he was often bullied. He reminded him of himself. And he suddenly found himself being a part of the fight and lending a hand to the blonde idiot. They ended up in a fistfight with four older guys and they had gotten out alive.
They learned they have more similarities. Sasuke thought Naruto was crazy and an idiot for standing up against four bigger blokes when he was outnumbered. He would probably do the same thing, but he would think of a way to escape faster rather than facing them square to square the whole time. He was going to get killed that way.
Sasuke learned that Naruto was alone and have no family, just like him. What are the odds that two troublemakers like them would meet in that busy city? Naruto was an underage employee of a local bar and was doing the table-waiting, and eventually, Sasuke got his first taste in a bartending job there with Naruto. Soon enough, he met Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Yamato through Sasuke and they took him in when the old pervert hermit was able to establish his own business.
One day the two of them were passing by a school when they heard a fight in an alley. They did not know Rock Lee yet then, but he immediately stood out from the crowd because of his funny, dorky hair. Apparently, three students were trying to burn a stray cat and he saw and stopped them. This had gotten the attention of the other students. They started making fun of him and was daring him to show off his karate stunts. He actually did when one of blockheads started strangling him. Rock Lee knocked down two of them before the other one hit him on the head with a wooden stick and he collapsed. And that was when Sasuke and Naruto butted in and beat the shit out of them.
They were not sure if it was because he got hit pretty bad on the head or what, but Rock Lee started seeing them as some sort of role models or saviors after that. He started following them and they were even flabbergasted when he suddenly showed up one day at Gam's. He noticed they attracted girls quickly, and he likes asking pointers and advices on how to keep that attraction—without necessarily being sexual like them. And that was when he started becoming a regular of the bar.
He knows what they do for a living and he did not seem to care, anyway. They do not have many male customers—most of the guys would just come in to drink and usually have no idea what else is going on. Of course, Sasuke and Gaara were popular with the homosexuals, but other than that, the female customers usually keep things to themselves, because after all, they would not be enjoying the company anymore once it has been found out.
"I've been sitting in front of the computer all day I'm getting a stiff neck." Rock Lee sighed after a few gulps, rubbing the back of his neck. He works as a programmer for a software company.
"Why don't you talk to some of the ladies here to unwind?" Naruto suggested.
"You know they're not my type." Rock Lee mumbled.
"Then, what kind of a girl is your type?" Sasuke asked casually, rubbing an empty glass with a piece of cloth.
"You also know that." He muttered with a glare at him.
Sasuke chuckled as the entrance door opened.
"Speaking of which…" Naruto trailed off as they watched Haruno Sakura walked in, wearing a tight black dress and a beige fur coat.
She settled herself on the high chair at the counter in front of Sasuke and next to Rock Lee. Her eyes were glued on Sasuke the minute she walked in. Her lips pink.
Rock Lee's eyes turned ever more rounder upon seeing her next to him and seeing how beautiful and seductive she looked that night.
"Tequila on the rocks." She said straight to Sasuke.
The corner of his lips pulled up a bit as he grabbed a bottle from the counter and ignored Rock Lee's glare at him the whole time he was preparing the drink.
Rock Lee fell in love with Sakura the first time he saw her at the bar, only to find out later that she was sleeping with Sasuke. She was already fixated on him when he met her and still could not believe how Sasuke could not just jump in and be with her completely. If it was him, he would have probably gave up all this for her.
Sasuke, on the other hand, knew Rock Lee was attracted to her. He just came in too late. He was asking them for advices to make a certain girl he likes swoon, and they realized he was talking about her when she dropped by the café one day while he was there. Sasuke would not mind if Sakura would date Rock Lee even if they have shared a lot of things together. The problem was she couldn't seem to pay attention to anyone else. And sometimes, he has fun on parading this in Rock Lee's face. After all, he was all having what he could not.
"How long 'til your shift ends?" Sakura asked after sipping from the glass.
"I'll be working the whole night." Sasuke replied.
"How're you doing, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked sweetly.
"Fine. It's been a tiring day. I couldn't wait to go home." She exhaled, her long eyelashes fluttered. "What've you boys been up to?"
"We were just… talking." Rock Lee said timidly.
"About?"
"About Lee's type of girl." Sasuke smiled.
Rock Lee gave him an angry look as Naruto tried to control his snort.
"Oh, really." Sakura mused, turning her head to the guy next to her.
"I'm just saying… it's not that easy to meet a certain guy's type of girl." Rock Lee muttered, staring down at his bottle.
"Well, what kind are you looking for? Wild, demure, soft-spoken, dominatrix?" Sakura teased.
"That's actually a good mix of an ideal girl!" Naruto exclaimed.
"That kinda sounds like a bipolar." Rock Lee frowned.
Sakura smiled and tossed her pink hair behind her shoulder, leaning forward with her legs crossed. "Well, a girl nowadays quickly becomes a woman. They're more conscious about their looks and bodies. They're not afraid to show more skin and be comfortable with guys. Still, if you want to get a girl's attention, you should make her feel special or secure. They're actually soft-hearted and would eventually fall for guys being all chivalrous."
"Really." Rock Lee stared at her.
"Girls nowadays go further to get attention. And they fall fast." Naruto nodded.
Sasuke was silent for a moment as he continued to wipe clean a glass with a cloth. He was really not interested with the conversation but could not avoid listening, anyway. He stared vacantly at the floor as he remembered something.
"Actually, I met a girl who's kinda the opposite." He said silently, more to himself. "She didn't seem to want a helping hand and was trying to do everything by herself. She even gave me a lecture and was like an old lady. I thought they were extinct."
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"Good morning, beautiful!"
Ino's head popped up from the set of flowers she was putting in a vase and saw Akimichi Chouji walking into the shop. A red head woman with olive skin and in a yellow dress striding behind him.
"Chouji, you fatty!" Ino's face perked up as he hugged her, squeezing her with his big arms.
Akimichi Chouji was one of her college classmates and came from the rich and well-known Akimichi clan. They were easily distinguishable because of their hefty builds and red swirl on their cheeks as a family symbol. He had bushy brown hair that sometimes reminds her of a chowchow dog.
His family is famous for its businesses in the food chain and restaurant industry, and it pretty much shows in their figures and appearances. And as an heir to the empire, Chouji is usually off to different places for business meetings so they do not see each other often. He was one of the few people who were close to her in her school years.
"How've you been? You seem to be losing weight and getting all toned now." Ino poked a muscle on his arm. He was wearing a blue blouse and black pants.
Chouji grinned. "Yeah, better be prepared for the big day." He flexed one arm. "Where's Hinata-chan?"
"She just went to the store to get more laces." Ino turned to the red head behind him and waved. "Ohayou, Karui-san!"
Karui's golden brown eyes turned to her and she simply gave her a small smile.
Ino finds Karui to be a beautiful exotic woman, but if there's something that's bothering her about her, it's her way of being distant from her. She was close to Chouji and she wanted to be close to her, too, but Karui was never that friendly with her since the beginning. She would just give her a nod or a smile and let Chouji do all the talking. She was not sure if she was uncomfortable with her or if she does not like her at all. Or maybe if she was just used to hanging out with the rich girly girls who likes to go shopping all the time.
And it does not help when she is the florist of their coming wedding before the end of that year. Chouji handed her the full responsibility of taking care of all the needed flowers from the pre-nuptial party to the wedding day. And since it was going to be a big event, with all the invited entrepreneurs and the media, it was going to be one hectic job. She still have several months to prepare for the wedding day, but as for the pre-nuptial party, it was coming in a week. She did not know she was in charge of the flowers for the pre-nuptial until she received a call from Chouji the other night, asking her to prepare some for him and she frantically yelled at him over the phone for informing her at the last minute.
"So how's the best florist in town going?" Chouji looked around the shop.
"Hah. Any more handling of your event and I'm going to have shrubs growing out of my head." Ino said.
"Oh, these look nice, don't they, hon?" Chouji fumbled his stubby fingers on a set of pink peonies on the table.
"Yes, they're lovely, hon." Karui nodded as she took a booklet from the table and started browsing in a bored manner.
Chouji turned back to Ino. "Now, I have a dozen staff at the hotel for the pre-nup party so you can just leave all the hauling and positioning of the flowers to them once you get there. I want you to be there during the toast and to have a good time. You can taste all the food and drink whatever you want. There's going to be a hundred guest, and since you're single, I bet one of my colleagues and business partners would love to meet you."
"I doubt that's a good idea." Ino groaned, folding her arms together.
"Well… come to think of it, you're probably right." Chouji slowly rolled his eyes and pouted his lips, his cheeks getting all round like rubber balls as he did.
Ino gave a scoffing sound and said in a flat voice. "Of course, he's there, isn't he?"
"You know I can't leave him uninvited!" Chouji cried in defense. "We work in the same industry and we're bound to see each other during events. It's the business world."
Ino shook her head as she stood straight with crossed arms.
Chouji sighed and took both her hands. "Look, forget about him. Just show up there and do your thang. You're doing fine and you need to eventually get along like grown ups. Show him you're doing good and you can kick his ass. You can't avoid him forever, you know. And it's been two years."
"He's a scumbag." Ino gritted her teeth.
"Yeah, I know what he did to you was awful, but what can I do, he's a friend, too." Chouji said. "And who knows, maybe he's changed. There's a lot of things going on for him in the past years, you know. He's been away from the country and now he just came back."
"Well, I'm only going there for you. And I'm going to eat whatever I want during the whole event. I don't care who else is there or whatever they're going to do. Just don't get me to participate in all that single's game crap." Ino stated, pressing a finger against his big chest.
"Don't worry, I won't." Chouji's eyes turned into lines as he beamed.
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Chouji said a hundred guests. It does not look like a hundred guests at all. There was even a small traffic that formed on the way to the hotel because of the party, and there were two media vans parked at the side of the hotel by the time Ino and Hinata were dropped there by Ebisu.
Ino checked all the carnation centerpieces on top of the round tables covered with white cloths. She and Hinata had gotten there two hours earlier to prepare. The guests were coming in the event hall now and all things were set.
You can easily pick her out from the guests because all of the females there were wearing fancy dresses, and she was wearing a pair of white blouse and black slacks. Having to wear black closed shoes with two-inch high heels was also already an effort for her to keep herself balanced.
The crowds clapped when Chouji and Karui arrived at the event hall to greet and welcome everyone. Chouji was wearing a black suit and his stomach was still popping out a bit. Karui was donning a glittering red gown that matched her hair. They were shaking hands with the guests. There was a lot of attendees but Ino barely knew any one of them besides the familiar faces of Chouji's family.
There were two long tables situated on each side of the hall filled with food of all sorts. Ino have not seen any table presentations bombarded with that much piles of food before.
After gobbling up her third plate during the middle of the program, Ino slipped out from the event hall to check on Hinata, who went to the main lobby to see if the displays were still in place.
She could hear the heels of her shoes echoing against the marble floor as she strode down the hallway. There were barely any people there at that time and she was relieved. She turned to the corner leading to the main lobby when she accidentally bumped into someone.
She stepped back and found a man turning to face her after the soft collision. He was inches taller than her.
And she knows him.
"Nice to see you here—" He began to say in a calm voice, his eyes settling down on her profile. "—Ino-chan."
"Don't call me that." Ino said.
Hidan gave her a small amused smile. He looked like what he did during the last time she saw him on the television. He always has this clean look on him, with his long hair all brushed up and his masculine face smooth and relax. His hazel brown eyes, though, were quite hard to forget.
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A/N: I don't think Hidan has a surname in the Naruto series so I only used the village where he came from as his last name. As for the reviews, no matter how short or long, few or many, still, thank you. It is and will be highly appreciated.