Welcome to Konoha Café!
By: Decepshun
Summary: It's like Sakura's dream come true- working at the brand-new, totally chic Konoha Café, socializing with the rich and famous (well, sort of), and all that jazz. Too bad it comes with two pretty-boy prodigies, one hyper ninja wannabe, and lazy sensei coaching them… SAKUMULTIPLE NaruHina InoShikaTem AU
Let's go laugh at what this story used to be Did you know this story was gonna be an angst-filled tale of an unrequited, dark love? XD Yup; it started out as a story of Sakura investigating some random creepy rumour about a vampire in Konoha Café (as you might remember, it was supposed to be for Halloween), but… alas, in the end… hehe
Just so you know… So this portion is kind of like the predicted FAQ (I do these because no one really asks questions T_T Decepshun is sad.)
Gasp! OMG. There was this segment where you used First-Person POV!! I wonder if anyone caught that. Bah. I was rereading it just a few minutes ago and I realized in one section, I used First-Person POV instead of Third-Person. Hehe. Sorry.
Why is Sakura so evil towards Sai? WHAT DID HE DO TO HER?!?!?! As you might remember, he made this mean comment towards her lovely cat, bunny and rat toys. Bad Sai.
Ahem, anyway. Sorry for the long wait for this chapter. _
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+Chapter Two+
A Rather Disastrous Morning After
When Sakura woke up, she heard the low voice of someone muttering.
For a moment, Sakura wondered who it was. But then she heard the sound of pencil on paper- a scritch-scratch sound, and forgot about her question; in a way, she found the sound quite soothing. Sakura shivered quietly- a window was open, and the fall breeze found its way into the room- and moved closer to the source of warmth next to her. Savouring the warmth that this thing (whatever it was) brought, she snuggled closer to it, and wrapped her arms around it, but tilted her head slightly, in confusion, when said thing stiffened.
The scritch-scratch sound stopped abruptly, and the sound of dry leaves dancing on the ground outside was all that could be heard.
Sakura opened one of her eyes warily, and in alarm, quickly opened the other.
"Eh? Sai-san?" she muttered groggily, slightly alarmed, "What are you doing here?" The dark-haired boy was sitting on the inner part of her bed, which was against the wall. He had opened the window next to the bed, and he had been sketching something (that was outside the window, she presumed) when Sakura woke up.
Sai scowled. "You don't remember, Ugly? You know, forcing me into wearing a dress? Then making me stay?"
Sakura half-grinned, and then said, "Ah, I remember now. And don't be angry, Sai-chan. We all know that you secretly like to cross-dress." She stuck out her tongue at him in a childish way.
He scowled again, then was about to shut the notebook that he had been sketching in, when Sakura suddenly stopped him. She looked inquisitively at the notebook.
"Ne, Sai-san, what were you drawing, anyway?" Sakura asked, a curious look on her face. There was a pause as Sai stared blankly at her, and suddenly something registered, and he flushed a dark red, quickly shutting his notebook.
"Nothing," he said, regaining his composure.
Her hands on her hips, and glaring at Sai, Sakura said, in a slightly childish tone: "Well, mister, that's impossible! How're you supposed to draw nothing?!" (A/N: I used to get this reply from my classmates whenever I told them I was drawing 'nothing' [minus the 'mister' part XD]. Haha, good times…) She reached over for the notebook, which Sai had shoved behind him, so that now it was between his back and the wall.
"C'mon, Sai," Sakura asked in a whiny voice, looking at Sai with puppy-dog eyes, "please-please-please? Pretty please with a cherry on top?" She batted her eyelashes, and laughed a little, at the silliness of the action. Sai stared at her, his eye twitching, like he thought she was completely nuts (which, actually, is probably true. That she's completely nuts, that is).
Sakura growled, like a child not getting what she wanted.
"OH, COME ON, SAI. JUST LET ME SEE THE FRIGGING PICTURE," Sakura yelled, and then added with another bat of her eyelashes, "pretty please?"
Sai stared at her, silent (probably disturbed by her random outburst) when suddenly, the silence was disrupted by Sakura's cell phone, as it rang, playing a cheery melody; its small screen flashed with light. Sakura glared at the phone, then with a long, drawn-out sigh, picked up the phone. "Hello?" Pause. Sakura wore a puzzled expression on her face. "What are you talking about?" Pause. "Really?" Pause. She laughed sheepishly. "Whoops, sorry about that. Why didn't you just ring the doorbell or something?" Pause. Another sheepish laugh. "What? There's no doorbell? I thought there was one… Anyway, ahem. See you in… umm, soon."
Sakura snapped the phone shut, and placed it back onto the small wooden table next to her bed. "Be back in a second, 'kay?" She said to Sai, who shrugged indifferently, and returned to sketching in his notebook.
'Bah, emotionless bastard,' Inner Sakura muttered, as Sakura made her way to the door, avoiding various things littered on the floors. Once she reached the door, she unlocked it, and it swung open, revealing Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke- the latter of which looked extremely annoyed. "Good morning," Sakura greeted the three of them, with a wide smile.
"Good morning!" Naruto half-shouted back, as he brought out a pack of ramen. "Ne, ne, Sakura-chan, look! They had ramen on sale, so I bought a whole ton!"
"Um. That's… uh, nice, Naruto," Sakura replied, sweatdropping.
Kakashi coughed uncomfortably. "So, uh, Sakura… uh… did we… uh, interrupt something?" He looked at her meaningfully.
"Not really," Sakura said, looking a tad bit puzzled. "I wasn't really doing anything." 'What is up with that weird stare? Is he trying to say something?!' Inner Sakura pondered, glaring suspiciously at Kakashi. 'WHAT IS HE TRYING TO SAY?!?!"
He stared at her, and said, "You know, something?"
Sakura blinked, staring blankly back at him. "No, actually, I don't know. I haven't the faintest idea what the hell you're talking about."
Kakashi sighed, exasperated. "SOMETHING," he repeated (like that'd help).
"Something?" Sakura echoed.
Naruto interrupted this… ahem, meaningful conversation as he whined, "My arms hurt from carrying around all this ramen!" He pouted at the other three, who were looking quite clearly disturbed.
"So, put the boxes of ramen on the floor, dobe," Sasuke commanded. Naruto gasped in shock, at this suggestion.
"No!" Naruto shouted, hugging the boxes of ramen to his chest, "Ramen! I will not let you get attacked by the evil bacteria on the disgusting floor of this weird building"-he was interrupted by Sakura cried out, quite indignantly, "hey!"-"so, don't worry, my precious ramen!" He stroked the box of ramen, laughing creepily, while Sasuke, Kakashi and Sakura stared at him, sweatdropping. Naruto stared back at them and stuck out his tongue.
Kakashi cleared his throat. "Ahem, what I mean, Sakura, is that… were you doing anything… uh, lascivious in there?"
Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Lascivious?"
"Yeah," Kakashi replied, "You know; anything odious? Ignominious?" Sakura raised her eyebrow higher at his reply. The look on her face clearly said, "wtf", and briefly, she wondered how a person who only reads indecent books like "Icha Icha Paradise" could know all these random words.
Sakura decided that she didn't want to know. "Seriously, Kakashi-sensei, what the heck are you talking about?"
Kakashi smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. "Okay… Were you doing it?"
"'It?'" Sakura repeated again, "As in sleeping? Yeah. I had a nice dream, you know-"
She was cut off by Sasuke, who had finally gotten annoyed enough to say, "Baka. You're even worse than Dobe." He paused, sighed a bit, and then continued, "Sensei wants to know whether or not you were engaging in sexual intercourse with Sai." Sasuke said each word slowly and deliberately pronounced each syllable, as if he were talking to a four-year-old. After finishing his statement, he muttered under his breath: "For a guy who reads books on the freaking subject, you'd think he'd be able to explain it to a fifteen-year-old…"
"What?" Sakura yelled, the same time that Kakashi yelled, "Hey, in my defense, this is a very fifteen-year-old. She glared at Kakashi. "Gee, thanks, Kaka-sensei."
"What? It's true."
Sakura scoffed. "Ha. And you're a weird forty-year-old."
"29!" Kakashi half-screamed. "It's twenty-nine!"
"Close enough," Sakura said, shrugging. "So, where'd you get that idea? That me and Sai were, uh… you know?"
"Well, uh," Kakashi said, "firstly, your hair is kind of messy."
Sakura retaliated with, "Everyone's hair is 'kind of messy' when they just wake up, you know." Her glare intensified. Sakura- score one; Kakashi- score zero.
"Then, err," Kakashi trailed off, obviously trying to think of another reason.
"Ha!" Sakura shouted, with a triumphant grin on her face, "You can't think of anything more to say!"
"I'd say the main reason why is the fact that you were screaming Sai's name about a minute ago," Sasuke said bluntly, while the other two-Sakura and Kakashi-stared at him, their jaws dropping (Naruto was too busy talking incoherently to his ramen). He sighed impatiently. "Can we go in now? It's freezing out here."
It was kind of impossible for Sasuke not to feel cold, seeing as, Sakura noted, all he was wearing was a dark-blue T-shirt, a thin-looking black blazer, and black jeans… and it was the freaking month of October. Seriously, was he trying to freeze to death or something? (A/N: yes, it is that cold in October. At least this year… unless the only reason I'm a cold child in October is because I live in Canada… hmm.)
Sakura considered not letting Sasuke in, just to see if he'd actually freeze to death, but decided against it, since then she'd have hordes of Sasuke fangirls after her. She held open the door. "Come in."
They had only been in her apartment for three seconds when suddenly, Naruto crowed, "Yes! You owe me five hundred dollars, Kaka-sensei!" Naruto nearly lifted his arms up in complete and utter happiness, before he realized that if he did that his (precious) ramen would fall on the floor.
Kakashi, who, surprisingly, knew what Naruto was talking about, groaned.
"Tsk… tsk… you indecent children." He sighed, and grudgingly passed over a wad of bills that he had gotten out of his pocket, while the three- Sai, Sakura and Sasuke- stared at Kakashi and Naruto quizzically.
"Yay!" Naruto shouted, "Now I can buy loads of ramen!" He cheered, but suddenly paused and looked apologetically at his current box of ramen. "Sorry, Ramen-chan," Naruto told the box, "I still love you"-Sakura raised an eyebrow as she watched Naruto look… uh, dramatically… at the box. "Did he just name that box of ramen?"-"Although you'll probably be gone by tomorrow, please, my darling love, know that you will forever be in my heart," he finished dramatically, with a sigh.
The four of them sweatdropped, watching as Naruto looked at the money. "Ne, ne, Kaka-sensei," Naruto said, "I didn't know that there were such things as a two-hundred-and-fifty-dollar bill!"
His comment was met by silence.
"Kaka-sensei?"
"He's gone," Sai noted.
"Surpringly enough," Sasuke commented dryly.
"Hey, he left a note!" Sakura exclaimed, bending down to pick up a small piece of paper that was on the floor. "'Yes, there is such thing as a two-hundred-and-fifty-dollar bill, Naruto. Don't listen to what the others say. Anyway, meet you kiddies at Konoha Cafe. You'd better be there by nine thirty... or Naruto's ramen- don't think I don't know where you keep it- will disappear suspiciously'," Sakura read, "Then there's the address of the Café and a map."
There was a silence, and then Sakura said, "Hey, isn't 9:30 only a minute away?" She glanced at the clock that was hanging above the kitchen table. "It's 9:29, just so you know."
Naruto's eyes bugged out. "HURRY, HURRY, HURRY!" He shrieked, practically dragging the other three with him, "I MUST SAVE MY RAMEN!!!"
As he dragged them along, the note dropped from Sakura's grasp. Little did they know that on the other side, Kakashi had written, 'Whoops! I meant 10:30… haha, silly me. Well, see you at 10:30.'
-
Sakura sighed in annoyance. "Time?"
"9:47," Naruto replied.
Sakura sighed again, exasperated, and muttered various words that little kiddies should not repeat. She kicked a random, unsuspecting stone on the gravel road, as she stared at the building in front of her. The four of them had made their way to Konoha Café just a few seconds before 9:30. It was gorgeous- just like the rumours that Sakura had heard said.
"Time," Sakura said, a cross between a statement and a question.
"It's still 9:47," Naruto replied.
The café really was the stuff of dreams. Sakura had wondered what it was like to be actually in the café, if she felt such awe just from looking at its outside. She felt giddy about the fact that in a few minutes (hopefully), she'd be inside. Again, she sighed, then said, "Time?"
"No matter how many times you ask, Ugly, time won't go faster," Sai said.
"I've got a name, you know," Sakura said, in annoyance. Then she groaned in an exasperated manner. "Kami-sama, could Kaka-sensei take even longer? Geez."
Suddenly, a familiar-looking grey-haired man walked by. "Hello, kiddies," Kakashi greeted them, looking a tad bit confused, "What are you guys doing here so early? It's only 9:50."
"What do you mean?" Sai asked, his dark eyes staring.
"Well, I said on the back of the note that we were supposed to meet at 10:30, and not 9:30," Kakashi explained. Sakura sweatdropped. 'Really? Wouldn't it have been a lot easier to just have crossed out the 9:30 and write 10:30?' Inner Sakura was glaring daggers at Kakashi. "And, yes, Sakura, really. It was too much of a bother to just cross out 9:30."
Sakura scratched the back of her head. "Oh. Well, that makes sense."
"So, uh, why are you children here?" Kakashi asked, looking uncomfortable.
"Because you said 9:30 on the note," Sasuke told him.
Kakashi laughed nervously. "Oh, okay, well, um"-he cleared his throat-"why don't you, uh, kiddies run along now, and, you know, get back to what you were doing before you came here?"
"Nope," Sakura said firmly. She glanced, excitedly at the door to the café. "Not until you let us in!"
"Uh, no?"
Sakura glared. "Yes."
"No."
Her glare intensified. "Yes."
"No!"
"YES."
"No."
Sakura smirked evilly. "No," she said.
"Yes!... Oh crap."
Sakura laughed a little crazily. "So? Kaka-sensei? The door, if you will."
Kakashi pouted. "But I wanted to read a little Icha Icha Paradise before everyone came." Sure enough, in his hand, was that familiar orange-coloured book that Sakura had grown to despise.
"Ka-ka-sen-sei," Sakura ground out between clenched teeth.
"Uh-oh. Okay, uh, I'll just be leaving now…"
-
"Okay, children," Kakashi said, leading the four to the second floor of the café, "this is where you'll be living from now on."
Naruto, who was still hugging onto his ramen, let out a: "what?"
"Was that just a really bad joke? Like, you'll be here so often that it'll feel like you're living here?" Sakura asked.
Her eyes wandered around the room, and took in the gorgeous bay windows and how the light lit up the room in such a nice way. The carpeted floor was soft and comfy, and the couches (she couldn't resist sitting on them when Kakashi looked away)- well, let's just say she would gladly use one as her bed. Then there was the walls. They were something else entirely, covered with these wonderful ink drawings. 'Ya know, I wouldn't mind living here,' Inner Sakura commented. Go away! Go away! You betraying thoughts. 'Hey, I bet you thought that too.' Well, yeah, but…
"Nope!" Kakashi said cheerfully. "This is where you'll be living from now on."
Sakura's jaw dropped open.
"You're kidding, right?" Sai asked, looking a little shocked (which probably translated to ULTRA SHOCK in Sai-world).
"Nope!"
"B-B-But… m-my parents…" Sakura stuttered.
"Already told them!"
"School?" Sasuke inquired.
"What? Was that joke-y question? The café is in walkable distance of your schools."
Naruto gasped. "I feel so violated! How do you know what schools we go to?"
"How rude. I will ignore your comment." Kakashi cleared his throat, and then said, "Okay, well, kiddies"- here, he took a deep breath and smiled-"So, uh, where's you… you know, stuff?"
Sakura blinked. "Stuff?"
"Yeah, like, clothes? Books? Toiletries?" Kakashi said, his statement met by silence.
Kakashi sighed, as if to say, oh dear, these children really do need to learn to be brighter. "It was on the back of the note"-Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but Kakashi cut in-"I know, I know, 'b-but Kaka-sensei! We didn't read the back because we weren't smart enough to turn the note!', don't bother saying it, Naruto."
"Hey!" came Naruto's indignant reply.
"Okay, well, uh, why don't you kiddies get your stuff!" Without waiting for an answer, Kakashi plunked down on a sofa, and took out the ever-present orange book: Icha Icha Paradise.
"Hehe."
(A/N: just a note… the "hehe" came from Kakashi, thinking pervy thoughts. XD)
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"Hello, children," Kakashi greeted Sakura, Sai, Sasuke and Naruto, as they trudged onto the second floor of Konoha Café- their soon-to-be new home. He stared, somewhat disturbed, at Naruto, who was carrying (or at least, trying to carry) ten boxes of instant ramen, along with a bag (which he soon concluded was filled with even more instant ramen. Sakura walked in after Naruto, carrying another three boxes of the ramen (which couldn't possibly be hers. It was most likely Naruto's…) and a light pink and black suitcase… thing. Sai and Sasuke entered right after her, both carrying considerably smaller bags (Kakashi noted that they weren't carrying any boxes of ramen. 'Good,' he thought to himself, sweatdropping, 'Naruto brought enough ramen to last a family of four for at least half a year.')
"K…Ka…Ka…sen…sei," Naruto wheezed out, "help… ca… rry… ramen." He held out the boxes to Kakashi, a hopeful smile on his face.
"Ah, Naruto, you know me well enough to know that asking me to help you is completely useless and futile," Kakashi replied. Naruto groaned. "Why don't you just put the ramen down on the floor?"
Naruto's eyes bugged out. "NO!" he squeaked shrilly. "It can't possibly be safe for the ramen."
"Just put it down," Sasuke told him.
Naruto glared at Sasuke (how could he even suggest such a thing?!). "No, thank you. Ramen-chan and his buddies will be safely held in my wonderful embrace!" He looked lovingly at the box of ramen, and said, "Right, Ramen-chan? Hehe, don't worry, I'll be in my room soon, and I'll find a nice, comfy spot for you to rest!" He returned to stroking it, while giggling in an odd way.
Sakura sweatdropped.
Sai raised a brow.
Sasuke just looked generally disturbed.
Kakashi cleared his throat. "Ahem, moving on. Well, uh, you'll be sharing rooms, and there's other people living here too, just so you know."
"Other people?" Sakura repeated.
"Yeah, Ugly. You know, other human beings," Sai said sarcastically, as Sakura directed her Glare-o'-Doom at him. "Imma kill joo!" her glare seemed to say, "if you say one more word." Sai, apparently, didn't get that mental message. "Do you get that? You know, humans! Like you!" He made the horrible mistake of looking at Sakura to see her reaction…
Just as Sakura directed her Poke-o'-Doom at him.
Which would've harmlessly hit his cheek had he not turned. But he had. So her finger ended up poking his eye.
"… ow."
So that was how Sakura ended up sharing a room with Sai. Since, quote Kakashi, "this will help the two of you kiddies bond so you won't be so violent towards eachother". Kakashi even bet with Naruto (which turned out to be their weird hobby… thing; betting, that is) whether the two of them would end up happy little friends or not. Which Sakura thought was a completely crazy idea, seeing as a much better bet would be: who ends up killing the other first?
Oh well.
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Next Chapter Now that the little kiddies… err, I mean, main characters, have gotten their stuff over to Konoha Café-their new home-will they survive the "training session"? And who are they sharing the apartment with? COULD ONE OF THEM BE A PSYCHO MURDERER? COULD ONE OF THEM MURDER ALL OF THEM IN THEIR SLEEP? Nah, I think not, because if they were murdered, there would be no story at all… unless they came back as ghosts. Or something. Ahem.
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Notes So? What do you think? Sorry that it took pretty much forever to finish this chapter (Seriously, it was extremely hard to do… for some reason. o_o).
By the way, it's my birthday today! Yay! :)
Please review. Think of it as a birthday present to me. XD
xoxo,
Decepshun