Glass of the Kitsune
A Tender Stool
Tap Tap Tap
The sound of rhythmic tapping on a notepad was drowned out by the conversations happening in the bar around her. To her side sat two gentlemen in suits talking animatedly about their workplace and the stresses of their latest client. Behind her she could hear the pleasant conversation of three people apparently catching up with each other from their high school days.
She, however, was sitting alone at the bar with a look full of concentration as she stared at the note pad in front of her. The tapping noise helped her focus her thoughts as she looked at the list in front of her and wrote down her opinions as she observed the environment around her. Taste, service, concentration, chat, looks…
"This place fails too…" she muttered out as she put her face in her hands and thought about her situation.
She had been working for two weeks now on an assignment from her manager and was not having any luck. What she thought was going to be an enjoyable mission had slowly turned into an anxiety riddled quest to not let down her superior. What was the assignment?
Find a bartender for our new hotel.
Hyuga Hinata has been working for the Hyuga corporation for the past five years after completing college with a degree in hotel management. Her family business had started as a simple inn in a hot spring town not far from Konoha over a hundred years ago. Their constant dedication to customer service and smart business practices had led to their families successfully having a major hotel in every city in the elemental nations. Their latest hotel would be their crown jewel, was to be in Konoha, and would be opening in six months.
Hinata was immensely proud of her family's accomplishments and took great pride in being a part of the staff for their flagship hotel. But she also knew just how hard the family worked to get where they are, and that work ethic was passed down to everyone in her family. Her father was CEO, but nepotism during the hiring process was highly frowned upon and everyone had to work their way and prove their worth. Hinata was hired into a lower-level management role in staff operations and was working with her manager to fully staff the hotel and prepare for them training and daily operations.
It was tedious work, full of constant background checks and interviews, but she felt like she and the rest of the team were really hitting all their goals. They had attracted world class architects for the design, renown chefs for the restaurants and a top notch service staff from amongst the best in the business. But there was something that was still missing that her father had always considered a key to success in hospitality. A bartender.
Some of her juniors were starting to wonder why the bartender position was taking so long to fill, but they simply didn't understand what a good bar and bartender meant to her family. They didn't understand because they were used to the college style or sports bar where the goal was to simply get drunk. Her father had preached that a real bar, the kind that he visited, were places of respite that one could rest the soul. They wanted a quality to their service that was only found at the best establishments, but that also made them incredibly difficult to recruit.
Hinata had become interested in bars because of her father, but never completely understood what it was that her father saw in them. In a sense this hunt for a bartender was also a way for her to better understand her father's mindset. She wasn't sure if it was possible to please him, but at the very least she wanted to do her best. She had done research by reading bartending texts and magazines, visited numerous bars around the city and had even created a grading system to help her judge and record her findings. However, her deadline to find a bartender was up today and she felt like she was going to have to settle on one of the names that she had come across.
"Umm, ma'am?"
Hinata was broken from her thought's and cast a slightly irritated glance at the young bartender standing in front of her named Zaku. He was wearing black pants with a white dress shirt that was unbuttoned at the top and an open black jacket. His black hair was spiked up but seemed lean to one side due to the length. He wasn't really much to look at in her opinion.
"Looks…sixty five."
Normally Hinata would have never said anything so rude to someone's face, but Hinata could admit that she may be a little loose lipped at this point in the day. This was the seventh bar that she had been in today and probably the hundredth since she began her little quest. Hinata had to taste test a drink for every bartender that she visited so that she could properly judge them.
Hinata had been a shy child in her early years…and her teen years…and her college years…but that had begun to change once she started working in her family company and had to deal with juniors. Her confidence had risen over the past five years, but she still had her manners. The mixture of alcohol and her own frustrations was making her a little crazy.
She looked at the gin fizz that she ordered when she first sat down and went to reach for the glass as the bartender sputtered from her comment. When the flavor hit her tongue she was immediately put off.
"Gross."
"Ma'am! Please stop!" The bartender didn't raise his voice so he wouldn't disturb the other customers, but the inflection in his voice clearly displayed his seriousness. "Of course it tastes gross."
"What was that? What kind of bartender gets mad at a customer because she doesn't like his drink and then admits it is bad?" Hinata was shocked at the tone she was spoken to and the admittance to the poor tasting drink.
"It's not that." A voice to her right interrupted and she saw a glass enter her peripheral vision. Looking at the outstretched arm Hinata immediately felt her skin flush at the person that had seemingly sat down a couple of stools away without her noticing.
His hair was golden blonde and spiked off in different directions that made it look wild, but completely tamed and purposeful at the same time. He had tanned skin that seemed to make the brightness of his smile only stand out more, and on each cheek were three lines of birth marks that made it look like he almost had whiskers. The thing that immediately grabbed her attention though were his eyes that were the same blue as the ocean on a sunny day. He was modestly dress with a pair of black shoes, black pants with a dark orange shirt under a tan jacket.
"How about taking a sip of this?" He referenced the drink in his hand as he sat it down next to her. "It's still a gin fizz though."
Hinata looked at it slightly confused. Why was he giving her the same drink?
"Short cocktails should be taken in three sips." He said. "and longs should be finished off within ten minutes. Bartenders tend to get fairly nervous after the alcohol leaves their hands."
"The ice could melt too." Zaku commented as he nodded his head to what the blonde was saying.
Hinata looked at both drinks in front of her and could see the condensation on the glass and the smaller chunks of ice on the drink that she had ordered before. How long had she been sitting there thinking to herself and tapping her pen? Hesitantly she reached out and grabbed the newcomers drink and took a sip.
"You're right. This is great." She said with surprise in her voice. She looked at the bartender in front of her that was giving her a look and flushed with embarrassment as she realized how rude she had been before. Her gaze cast down to the notebook in front of her and the bartending magazine that she sat down in front of her. "Sorry. I was brooding over some stuff and said something rude."
"Don't worry about it." Zaku waved her off and then moved a couple of steps over to talk with the blonde next to her.
"Hmm?" Hinata hummed as she looked at the magazine that was poking out under from under her notebook. Or more specifically the image on the page that showed a blonde haired man that looked exactly like the one sitting next to her. Hinata quickly turned and looked at the blonde next to her that gave her a confused look in return. She snatched up the magazine and brought it closer to her face for a batter look. She could hear Zaku say something quietly to the blonde about her being trouble, but she chose to ignore it and look at the magazine.
'Uzumaki Naruto. Age twenty-six. Winner of the Elemental Nations Cocktail Contest.' The image showed Naruto in a white dress shirt and white jacket with a black bow-tie holding a trophy. She could barely make out what looked like small foxes on his cuff links. 'Youngest Konoha native to ever win the award against the largest competition to date. Currently working at Hotel Sabuku in Suna. The taste of his drinks have been called the "Glass of the Kitsune" and are full of surprising, yet delicate, flavors.'
'He's the one!' Hinata thought excitedly as she looked over next to her at the blonde who was currently putting a cut olive over each of his closed eye lids.
"Here we use olives and voila!" He made a silly pose with his head tilted slightly and his arms crossed in front of him. "Even though I'm asleep, I look awake!"
Hinata felt her eyebrow twitch slightly as she deadpanned at the blonde. Zaku seemed to think it was hilarious as he laughed out loud.
"Umm." Hinata was hesitant. She had made a small fool of herself earlier, but she had to take this chance. "You are Uzumaki Naruto right?"
"Yeah." He smiled. Hinata felt her heart skip a beat, but she couldn't stop now. "How did you know my name? I didn't accidently say something rude to you in the past did I? Or worse..."
Hinata ignored his rambling for a second after he confirmed his identity. He was definitely the best chance that she hard.
"Please!" She shouted a little louder than she intended as she stood up quickly. Naruto recoiled a little bit in surprise and let out a surprised noise. She grabbed him by the shoulders and looked right in his face. "I have someone who absolutely has to taste your cocktail."
OoOoOoOoO
"Yamato, the man in charge of drinks at this hotel will now conduct a practical test of your skills." Hinata announced to the three bartenders standing in front of her as she walked into the room with her manager.
They were all standing in a large atrium in the hotel that would serve as the bar and waiting area for the signature restaurant of the hotel. It was thirty stories up and gave a brilliant view of the city surroundings. The area was still under some construction as their architect finishes his designs, but the bar top was installed and they were providing anything that a bartender could need to serve any drink.
Hinata was dressed in a buttoned up dark purple blazer with a white undershirt. She wore a matching knee length skirt that was modest, but didn't hide too much of her figure. Her long dark hair flowed down to the small of her back and her hime cut bangs came down to her collar bone. The light color of skin contrasted well with the purple of the suit that she wore.
In front of her stood three men all looking eager to prove themselves. Each bartender dressed differently according to the standards of where they were currently working. One wore a long white blazer with a back tie, one wearing a white dress shirt with a cream colored vest and black tie and the last one was wearing a white dress shirt with a black blazer and no tie.
Hinata was little surprised to not see Naruto standing in the group after he promised he would be there. The three men had been found by her coworkers from their resumes, but Hinata believed that her method would find the best candidate. It had become something of a contest in their office over whose choice would win.
"I'll say this first." Yamato began. "I don't have any expectations of you gentlemen as bartenders."
Hinata sent a quick scowl at her manager from the statement before regaining her focus. Yamato was a tall man with short brown hair and black almond shaped eyes. He was wearing a tan suit with white dress shirt and tie that was striped with greens and browns. He was an imposing figure in their office, but he was very experienced and had been very successful at previous hotels for the Hyuga corp.
"I am thoroughly marketing this bar, in preparation for opening, as a place where everyone's needs will be fulfilled. You bartenders will do exactly as I say…" Both Hinata and Yamato seemed to catch a small movement in the corner of their eyes. "Hey, you over there! What are you doing?"
Hinata blushed slightly as she saw her candidate for the position standing at the glass overlooking the city with his hands on the glass. He seemed to be staring out at Konoha with an exited look on his face.
"Wow! We are really high up here! But you know…" The blonde turned around and looked directly at Hinata with a bright smile on his face. "People with a fear of heights won't ever come to this bar."
"Ms. Hyuga. You were the one who brought that idiot here with the rest of these bartenders, right?" Yamato scowled at the blonde as he continued to look around the room with an excited look on his face as he slowly meandered his way to the rest of the group.
"Yes sir." Hinata replied. "He's the youngest here, but he has an amazing amount of experience and prestige. He just got back to Konoha, but I asked him to come here."
"I've told you many times before, this is not the kind of bar that relies on experience or skill." Yamato muttered. "We have to get the bartenders to our standards. We cannot rely on a bartender that brings his own flair."
'I hate that kind of formulaic bartending.' Hinata thought as she watched Yamato start to walk towards the bar.
"I'll have you guys make your best cocktails." Yamato announced as all of the bartenders took a spot behind the bar. Hinata could see that Naruto would be the last one to serve. Yamato walked up to the first bartender. "What'll you make?"
"How about a martini." The man said with a confident smile as he began to pull out the ingredients from behind the bar and prepare the drink. Hinata watched as he carefully mixed everything together and poured it into the glass. It wasn't an overly complicated drink, but he had done everything correctly. Yamato stared at the glass before taking a sip of the drink and setting it back down.
"I wonder. Am I already finished eating? Or have I not yet begun to eat?" Yamato asked. The bartender looked at him with a puzzled expression.
"Huh? But you didn't say anything about that…"
"A martini is a strong cocktail. How dare you make me one without knowing whether or not my stomach is full or empty." Yamato interrupted and abruptly walked towards the next bartender. Hinata was slightly stunned about how he acted, but his comment wasn't exactly wrong. "Next"
"I'll make a grasshopper." The bartender said with a confident smirk. It seemed that one of his competition getting reprimanded only made him more confident at his chances.
"Good idea." Yamato commented. "I'll take it pousse-café style."
The confident bartender suddenly lost his smirk and adopted a slightly stunned expression.
"You know what a pousse-café is, right?" Yamato asked when he saw the reaction.
"Of course. It's where you add the ingredients together in layers without mixing them."
Hinata watched as he set out the ingredients and prepared the glass. He used his spoon to delicately pour the layers of the drink together. First crème de menthe, then crème de cacao and finally cream. He was careful, but apparently not skilled enough as there was a small cloud at the layer between the menthe and cacao.
"You mixed them." Yamato stated.
"Well, you changed your order all of a sudden…" The second tried to make an excuse, but if fell on deaf ears and he knew that it was useless.
"Hmpf. Customers are cruel." Yamato announced as he started walking to the next bartender.
'You the one who's cruel.' Hinata thought as she watched him. 'You were the one who told them to make the cocktail they're best at.'
"Ms. Hyuga." Yamato suddenly snapped her out of her thoughts. "Tell me. What does today's youth usually order?"
"Young people generally order a fuzzy navel, amaretto sours and other flavorful sweet drinks if not drinking beer." Hinata answered after thinking for a minute.
"It was foolish of me to leave you all in charge of the bar with those kinds of drinks." Yamato shook his head as he faced the third bartender. Hinata scowled at the man from behind as he insulted her taste. He asked what young people drank at bars, she wasn't referring to herself. She looked at the blonde at the end of the bar. He seemed to be observing Yamato with a critical eye before he caught Hinata's gaze and gave her a small smile.
'Please.' Hinata thought. 'Knock his socks off.'
"How about a sidecar." The third bartender asked as Yamato came to his station. He had already been prepared to make his best drink and was holding his shaker in both hands ready to begin. Hinata watched as the man began his technique and shook the tool with a perfect grip and technique.
Naruto's smile seemed to fade though as he heard the noise. She watched as he seemed to almost enter a trance and slowly close his eyes as he listened. A moment later Naruto suddenly opened his eyes and bent down to open the freezer under the counter and search around. His noise caught the attention of Yamato.
"What's all the racket for?" Yamato asked with ire in his voice, but Naruto suddenly turned around and dashed out of the room.
"Sorry! Give me ten minutes please!" He shouted before he exited the door.
"He ran off." Yamato muttered. "Guess he didn't want to get scolded by me."
Hinata just had a shocked look on her face as the door fully shut and he was gone. Did he really just run away like that? He said he would be right back, right? There is no way Yamato could have intimidated him so much with his previous experience.
"Here is your sidecar." The third bartender announced with a smile. The drink looked perfect compared to ones that Hinata had had in the past, but it was up to Yamato's tastes.
'I guess this is the best we'll get.' Yamato thought as he took a sip of the drink. It tasted fine. Yamato checked his watch to see that five minutes had passed since the blonde had dashed out of the room. He was a busy man and was considering just calling it there when the blonde walked back into the room with an ice bucket in his hand.
"Sorry I made you wait." He smiled as he walked back to his station.
"So you weren't running off?" Yamato asked.
"Of course not." The smile never left Naruto's face. Hinata felt her cheeks heat up slightly, but Yamato could only scowl at him.
"The job of a bartender is to follow a recipe exactly and use the exact amount of alcohol required. That's all." Yamato lectured. "It's such a simple job, and unbelievable that you can get paid to do it. I don't care what you make, but do it quickly."
"First. We'll have a quiz." Naruto spoke as he grabbed his measuring jigger to get the correct ratios. Yamato just looked stunned at Naruto's audacity. "There are two professions in the world where you absolutely cannot betray your customers."
"What are they?" Hinata asked curiously. Yamato shot her a quick scowl for playing along with this foolish game.
"One of which is a pharmacist."
"So, what is the other one?" Hinata asked, ignoring Yamato's previous scowl.
"A bartender." Naruto adopted a serious look as he spoke to the two hotel employees. Hinata had never seen that look on his face, but the blue of his eyes almost seemed to turn darker. "All of them can follow the same recipe, but can sell you either poison or medicine."
He poured the ingredients into the glass in front of him and proceeded to use the stirring spoon to mix everything together. Hinata's eyes widened slightly at the skill of his technique. How he could stir the drink and never once hit the ice or glass was amazing.
"Here you are." He announced with a smile as he set the glass in front of Yamato. "This is my cocktail."
"Yo-you…" Yamato muttered with a shocked expression.
'No way.' Hinata thought. 'This is the glass of the kitsune?'
"It's a water cut." Naruto announced with a satisfied look on his face.
"This is bullshit!" Yamato shouted. "I have no time to be playing around with the likes of you! To serve me whisky mixed with water! Get the hell out!"
Naruto let out a small resigned sigh. "It is disappointing that the drink is not to your tastes."
With that he started walking away and Hinata could only look on in shock. Yamato was furious and his face adopt and almost ghastly look. "Who brought that bastard in here!? I'll have you busted down to handing out pamphlets in front of a train station!"
"Whiskey companies cut their whiskey with water to trying a make more money by dishing out more volume." Apparently in his rage he had forgotten that Hinata was the one to bring him in. Without thinking he grabbed the glass in front of him and looked at the lightly colored whiskey with ice. "It's amazing that some bartenders still don't know that!"
Hinata watched with disappointment in her face as Yamato brought the glass up to his lips and took a sip. Then his face took on a look that she had never seen before. He had a stunned expression as he looked down at the glass in his hands.
'This is a water cut?' Yamato thought with his mouth agape. 'There's still the faint smell of the cask it was in and the firm sweetness of the grain. The edge is taken off the alcohol and is soaking into my tongue, but it doesn't taste like water at all.'
"It's got a thin taste for a water cut, but…" Yamato admitted slowly. "I never knew that such and excellent water cut existed…"
"Excuse me." Hinata politely asked as she reached over and grabbed the glass from the counter. She wanted to take a sip herself. "That's delicious! There's not much alcohol in it, so it's easy to drink, but the taste is untouched!"
Yamato had a serious expression on his face before he walked away without another word.
OoOoOoOoO
"Ma ma Naruto. You have horrible luck." The older man laughed. "You just get back into Konoha and you get put into that kind of situation?"
The man had silver hair that seemed to defy gravity and stand up off to the side. He was tall and lanky, but looked like he would have no trouble throwing out anyone causing trouble in his bar. He had an eyepatch that sat over one eye with a scar that could be seen coming out from underneath. Other than that Naruto could admit that his old teacher was a handsome guy. It partially explained why the bar was so popular with the ladies.
"I know Kakashi." Naruto whined. "I just couldn't say no to her."
"Oh really? Just getting back to Konoha and already planning your future?" Kakashi said in a teasing voice. Naruto blushed hotly at the accusation.
"I-It's not like that!" Naruto shot back. "She really needed my help."
"So you suffered through it." Kakashi shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno Naruto…"
"Whatever." Naruto pouted. "It didn't go well, so I'll probably never see her again. I mean that guy yelled at me…"
"When you say "That guy". Do you mean me?"
Naruto nearly spit out as drink as Yamato settled up at the bar next to him. The man still had a stern look on his face, but he also seemed to be contemplative as he settled in.
"I've been drinking for over twenty years now, but I have never had a water cut as great tasting as that one." Yamato turned to look at Naruto. His face was serious, but it wasn't stern anymore. He seemed curious more than anything. "Tell me. What's different about your water cut…no, I mean your cocktail."
Naruto blushed a little bit at the praise and scratched at the back of his head.
"There's a tired customer in front of me." Naruto began. "He hasn't gone home for days as he working towards a new hotel opening."
"How did you know about that?" Yamato asked shocked.
"Your shirt sleeves are a bit dirty. That's pretty rare for a hotel manager." Naruto pointed to the white sleeves poking out from under Yamato's suit jacket that showed some discoloration. "Particularly rare for one who has to have complete control over everything."
"Anyway. This customer always argues with the younger staff over their opinions and the stress tires him out. Even so, he can't sleep. So he drinks and he drinks."
Yamato could only stare in wonder at the young blonde. Flashes of his own memory shooting through his brain as he flashed back to scenes exactly as he described.
"I felt that a normal water cut with 1-part whiskey and 2.5 parts water would be too strong for a tongue that gone through that."
"No." Yamato interrupted. "Your water cut was thin, but the taste was untouched."
"That was the ice." Naruto answered. "If you drop the alcohol level too low, the ice will melt. So you need fairly solid ice to keep the balance."
"That's what you went looking for!? Just for a single water cut?"" Yamato was incredulous. "A single drink to a customer…that you probably don't like?"
For a minute there was silence between the two men as they stared at the bar counter.
"Do you know the meaning of the word bartender?" Naruto asked.
"The meaning…?"
"A bar is like a stool, and tender means kindness." Naruto had a soft look on his face as he spoke. "So it means "A tender barstool."
"This wood here is the bar. Just a board that you put alcohol on." Naruto said as he knocked his knuckles on the wood. "But when a bartender is there."
"You put bar and tender together, and you get kindness." Naruto finished and the two sat in silence for a few minutes.
"I guess guys who call bartenders barkeeps instead don't deserve to be customers…" Yamato commented knowing how he treated the young man earlier.
"No. It doesn't matter who you are." Naruto ran his hand across the smooth bar top. "If you are standing in front of the counter. A bartender will call you his customer."
'It isn't a bar without someone's tenderness…' Yamato thought. 'So my bar isn't a bar yet…'
"How about it Naruto." Yamato asked. "Will you work for us?"
"Sorry." Naruto smiled brightly. "It's a nice offer, but I think I will check out some other bars in Konoha first."
'There's still some time before the opening. I won't give up.' Yamato thought before he suddenly realized something.
"By the way. Where in our hotel did you get such hard ice from?" Yamato asked?
"That…." Naruto chuckled with a sheepish look on his face. "Is just an old bartenders trick."
OoOoOoOoO
"Who broke the ice sculpture!? Who!? Did someone use it for the damn bar!?" Yelled the irate head chef.
'Oh my...' Thought Hinata as she stared swan ice sculpture with its head removed.
OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooO
Hello everyone. So this is kind of going to be small side project for me. I have never really written anything in the modern AU and I have also never written a crossover before. This story is basically a crossover/heavily influenced by a manga that I love called Bartender. It's a really nice slice of life manga with good writing and life lessons.
A lot of this is taken directly from that manga with a Naruto twist and different story lines / romance plots and stuff. Please let me know what you think.