I would be lying if I said being the manager of this building wasn't hard. My first day on the job I was completely alone in the house save for one of the tenants younger brother, but he never left their room. I retrieved my list and a shot of vodka to begin my day with, and started by cleaning up a little.
I quickly discovered I was nothing more than a glorified maid. I started with cleaning up the kitchen, but that quickly became an all day endeavor. Everything was filthy, dirty dishes stacked so high they looked like someone had tried to build a replica of the leaning tower of pisa. ( And boy where they leaning.) I discovered that this boarding house had three sets of dinner wear, all of which were sorted into piles and manually cleaned so I could be sure they were germ free. After deciding to trust the dishwasher for cups and bowls, I set to cleaning out the refrigerator. I made quick work of all the outdated items, however there was a literal mess of labeled food on the shelves, each with a different tenants name. Using painters tape, I made each person there own space, and left the very bottom for house food.
Unfortunately, my escapade had cost me most of the day, so I decided to vacuum and then sit down to watch some tv. Of course I had to vacuum, it's more of the illusion there are less germs I tried to tell myself. Besides, I deserved a rest.
About an hour before the rest of the tenants were due home, I heard the light thumping of feet coming down the stairs. This sixteen year old kid appeared shortly after, his black hair styled into spikes.
"Can I help you?" I asked, trying to sound polite. He looked over at me for a moment, his eyes large and child like, before he turned away.
"Just came down for some popcorn," he muttered, though it was further muffled by his retreating back. I watched him enter the kitchen, I heard the popcorn, and then watched him climb the stairs again with a large bowl in his hands.
"What's your name?" I asked loudly, getting up quickly to stand at the bottom of the stairs.
"Uh, Sasuke," he said, standing at the top, but leaning away. I could tell he was not interested in talking.
"If you ever need anything, come get me Sasuke," I smiled awkwardly. He looked at me blankly before walking away and it wasn't until I heard his door shut I realized how pervish that sounded. I resisted the urge to literally slap myself and took my seat back on the couch. My next bit of excitement was the tenants walking through the door, one by one, and upon noticing me, introduced themselves.
Kisame was the first, a huge hulk of a guy, who told me he worked as a life guard at a local hotel pool. Judging by the swim trunks and his bleached looking hair, he probably spent a lot of time in the pool himself. Over all he seemed pretty nice, a bit intimidating because of his size, but he was content to sit with me as I watched the travel channel. He wasn't terribly chatty, but not too quiet either.
A dark haired man came through the door during the middle of our conversation. He greeted us while he kicked off his shoes and hurried upstairs with a laptop bag.
"Itachi is a pretty busy guy, he manages the hotel I work at," Kisame told me as he pulled over a foot stool and kicked back.
"Why doesn't he just live at the hotel?" I asked, he'd been in such a hurry it made me worry if he was okay.
"Because this house happens to be on the edge of a good school district for his younger brother, he claims Sasuke is some kind of genius," the man was gone for a second, and returned with a bag of chips.
"Why does Sasuke live with Itachi and not his parents?" I asked, refusing to take any of the chips, it was clear it wasn't just Deidara and I eating out of this bag now. Kisame shrugged. He claimed he didn't know, the Uchiha's were apparently very privet people. Sasori and Deidara returned next, Deidara plopping down next to Kisame and stuck his hand into the chip bag.
"Have fun today?" He asked, chewing chips in his cheek so he could converse with us.
"I suppose so, the kitchen looks better at least," I noted as Kakuzu returned home, yelling at Hidan as they walked through the door. I hadn't heard his car pull in or the engine of the motorcycle either. Hidan mostly ignored us, though he did spare us one glance as he took his still jobless self upstairs. When I turned to look at Kakuzu he was rubbing his temples.
"What are you doing sitting there?!" He shouted, "do you see what time it is? Are you planning on making something to eat or getting fired?"
That sent me scrambling to the kitchen, I could not loose this job! The only problem was my limited cooking skills. Finally after going over what we had to use and what I knew how to make, I decided my only option was grilled cheese. There were twenty four individual slices of cheese in the package, and I used every one of them. A vat of tomato soup joined the sandwiches on the counter, a sort of assembly line had began to forum. Plates were set above the silver wear drawer, and the sandwiches were next to those, the pot of soup was farther back on the counter, bowls and crackers in front of that.
I served myself first and after a few of the other tenants noticed I had food, they filed in to get some for themselves. Deidara and Sasori joined me at the dinning room table, though the other guys choose to sit in the living room after a football game was turned on. Only the Uchihas were missing.
"You cook better than my mom yeah," Deidara commented between bites.
"If only," I laughed, "you call this cooking?"
"Better than take out," he shrugged and Sasori grunted in agreement, "comfort food is the best."
"What's the story on the Uchihas?" I asked, picking up spoonful after spoonful of soup only to drop it back into the bowl. Only after the two men were silent did I realize how strange my question might have been.
"Don't worry about them, nothing they do concerns anyone else," Sasori droned lazily. He'd finished his meal quickly and now stood up to take care of his dishes.
"Run some water in that bowl after you've finished, Deidara," Sasori sounded to me like a scolding mother and I wondered if their was something behind that. Deidara didn't answer him.
"Want mine?" I asked, shoving my bowl of still warm soup in his direction. He nodded with a mouth full of grilled cheese and I joined Sasori in the kitchen. He was busy cleaning dishes but I was busy dirtying more. I cradled two plates in the crooks of my elbows so I could carry a bowl in each hand upstairs. Several times I thought the cheesy sandwiches might meet a dirty carpeted fate, but I got them to their destination with slow walking and pure determination. Now the problem was how to knock on the Uchiha's door? I settled for kicking it, and just when I thought no one would answer, it opened.
"Could I help you?" The younger Uchiha had an xbox head set on, a wireless controller in his left hand. His blood shot eyes were a key he'd been at it for a while.
"I uh, brought you guys up dinner," I smiled sheepishly. Sasuke raised an eyebrow. I could hear his brother talking on a phone behind him, making me wonder just how this room was set up.
"Thank you," he said in a tone that reminded me of a rehearsing actor. He took the bowls and set them down before taking the plates. He promptly shut the door in my face after. I was a bit angry after, but I chalked it up to who I was dealing with. I'd take Sasori's advice from now on and not worry about them.
"Kimi! Sasori says were gonna go out, come with us!" Deidara called from downstairs, and I turned away, fully prepared to put what just happened behind me. I had to change my shirt of course, because of all the cleaning I'd done and dirt I'd got on it, so when I arrived down stairs, I found Sasori in the drivers seat of his car and Deidara in the passenger seat. When I got in, I found they both already had their seat belts on and the radio station adjusted.
"Sorry about the radio, he wouldn't let me pick a station," Deidara said, twisting around to face me. I didn't even get a chance to listen to whatever was on before Sasori started speaking.
"Please Deidara, there's nothing wrong with the news, and Kimiko, next time we offer to take you somewhere, get here in a timely fashion. I hate to be kept waiting," Sasori spoke very matter of factly, pulling out of the drive way in one easy, steady motion, using the appropriate speed unlike Deidara had. Kimi didn't apologize, just sighed and asked where they were headed.
"Sasori, uh, Mr. Akasuna owns a toy store. We're gonna go lock up," Deidara answered, reaching out for the radio tuner only to have his hand slapped away. The drive downtown was making my head spin. While trying to tune out the bickering in the front seat I tried in vain to learn roads and draw a map in her head but the toy store made it all worth it.
The building was small and brick, attached to three others in a line of town house topped shops. The front window was filled with beach themed items such as water floats and a few stuffed animals wearing sunglasses. The inside of the building wasn't much farther off.
It was like a dream, I mused, with planes and hit air balloons hung from the ceiling and colorful packages covering every shelf right down to the floor.
"Isn't it cool?" Deidara asked, catching the keys Sasori threw to him from the register. I could only nod for a moment.
"You work here?" I asked, turning around in a complete circle.
"Yeah, Sasori's nephews and niece help too. The little cretins should be around here somewhere," Deidara spoke while focused on locking the old looking door and older looking latch.
"Cretins huh?" A femine voice spoke, and twisting around, a blonde haired girl stood with her hands on her hips. She couldn't have been much more than a few years younger than myself and judging by her outfit she was headed to the beach after this.
"Shut up Temari, before I tell your uncle about that asshole you let into the back room today, what was his name, Shikamaru?" Deidara hissed with a Cheshire grin, brushing by her. I danced nervously in place before deciding to fallow him past the angry teenager.
"Deidara, try not to bully the kids will you?" Sasori scolded, stopping in the middle of checking his till in the cash register. Deidara rolled his eyes. Two more boys came out of the back room, the elder boy with brown hair introduced himself as Kankuro and introduced his red haired younger brother as Gaara. These two wore slightly darker clothing, jeans in the summer paired with thick cotton T-shirts, and I thought that odd. The older boy produced a large file from his pocket and asked Deidara to give it to his uncle, and after a quick fist bump, he and his brother left via the back door. Temari was waving good bye minutes later, a boy pulling up in a cherry red convertible.
Youth, I sighed and I sure hoped those high school kids were having fun on their summer vacation, because I'd give anything to be back there right now.
"Did you wanna go to the beach too?" Deidara asked, "it's just a land locked lake, but uh," he stammered, handing the keys back to his boss. He muttered something only he could hear and handed Sasori the file next. It resembled something I used on my nails, though it was much more course and rough.
"Did you wanna see the work shop?" Deidara asked, pulling my attention from the rasp. Deidara motioned for me to fallow him, and we walked though a crowed back room of boxes until we reached a poorly painted red door. Behind it was a small, dark room lined with tools, wood, paint, and marionettes. The room smelled like wood stain and Pine, wood chips and split paint covered the floor. I was afraid to ask what this exactly was, it was far too creepy, and that was okay with Deidara, the blonde liked explaining things and talking honestly. All my attention was on him if she was listening.
"Sasori makes them, he says its some sort of dying art," Deidara rolled his eyes, "but if you asked me, this isn't art at all."
"We haven't asked you, Deidara," Sasori's voice surprised Me from behind, his arm reaching across my shoulder to flick on a light, illuminating the room.
"The stain I put on the wood insures it will never rot away, these will be here long after all of us are gone. It's a legacy, it's eternal beauty, something very special," Sasori spoke, pushing past us and pulling a marionette from a hat tree used to hold them. Gently he untangled the strings and began making the limbs, joint by joint the tiny puppet complied, extending a hand to us. The puppet had no particular features, no colored paint, cloths, or even a face, however the surface was smooth and soft, and reminded me of an artists pose referencing doll. Deidara humphed, crossing his arms.
"I'm going to start the car," he grumbled, taking the car keys out of his pocket and jingling them in front of Sasori. He was out the back door in seconds. Sasori hung his puppet back up, placed the file he'd received from his nephew earlier back into its spot, and shut the light off.
"Come along," Sasori said, his tone empty as he brushed past her, shutting the door. The car ride home was silent, My head was spinning with not only directions but with the new information I'd taken in about the people in front of her. They bickered nonstop, but I wasn't bothered. Actually it might have been kind of endearing. Something about the marionettes though, something about them interested me.
When Kimi returned home, she retreated to her room and her bottle of vodka. The sun went down beautifully around eight, by nine she was plastered, and at ten she passed out for a little over two hours. She'd probably had a little bit too much to drink and was missing home a little too much that night, and unsure of the current time when she woke up, she stumbled down stairs to find Sasori, Kisame and Kakuzu watching a late night news program. The three men watched her for a moment before passing the inebriated girl off as none of their business. She had the red solo cup from the night before in her hand, sipping it absentmindedly as she tried in vain to read the time running across the bottom of the screen. She nursed her drink a little more and moved, now standing smack dab in the middle of the living room she seemed unaware that she wasn't the only person here.
Sasori moved to cross his right leg over his left, his annoyance and impatience with the drunk girl in his line of view reaching a fever pitch. As he folded his legs, his knee cracked, and silently he cursed it, what was he? An old man?
Kimi twisted around, her selective senses picking up on the sound. She stared at him for a moment, finally noticing him. She opened her mouth slowly, as if to ask a question, and promptly threw up all over him.