Me: alrighty guys are already to start this bad boy up again?
Naru &dei: Hai!
Me: Yosh! Lets do this! Also I have a special honorable mention for~~!
kitty tokyo uzumaki
Naru: Thanks for being the first person to leave a review on our great return!
Me: yeah, and since I'm back I'm going to be giving honorable mentions to people who review because I noticed I didn't really do it a lot before…okay! Lets go! START!
Sasu: whatever…
Me: oh what lovely enthusiasm sasuke. Just do the disclaimer somebody.
Dei: Kyubbi-chama owns nothing un, but what she does own is a new laptop and cell phone un! ^_V
~~~~~?~~~~~~~~~~
-Naruto's P.O.V-
"You what?" Minato yelled during dinner after I told him what happened to his racket.
"Well it's not exactly lost…I just don't have it."
"Then get it back if you know where it is."
"That would be impossible right now…"
Boy if looks could kill I think I would have been stabbed, shot, and tossed in a fire to burn for all eternity.
"I have a game tomorrow!" Minato exclaimed
"I know, but you have other rackets." I tried to tone down the importance of this particular racket.
Epic. Fail.
"Others? It's that easy for you? Do you have any idea how much is cost for a Prince O3 Speedport?"
"I didn't mean that-"
"It's bad enough you deface property at school!"
"I'm sorry, but-"
"Sorry's not good enough this time. I can't believe I let you take my racket in the first place!"*1*
"But, brottthheeer, I'm sure you and Kyuubi made mistakes when you were hippie teens!"
"Yes, and we paid for them, like your going to pay for my racket."
My bank account had about five dollars left from my sweet sixteen birthday and I owed Video Horizons'*2* twenty dollars in late fees. SO after doing some math I discovered my big bro was going to have my allowance till' I was about 30.
-End P.O.V-
Then the next three words echoed in Naruto's head and made him dizzy with fury. As he said them he felt like he was going to spontaneously combust into a million pieces.
"Get a job." Minato stated. "It's about time you learn about responsibility."
"Can't you just ground me or something? Come on!"
"NO. End of story. No ifs ands or buts about it. I'll help you find a job if you can't on your own, but that's it."
Naruto ran to his room screaming at the top of his lungs, "You people don't understand the pressure of being a teenager in my generation!"*2*
As Naruto laid on his bed, glaring at the ceiling, he fantasized about sneaking into the mansion like he did with Kankuro when he was twelve, and getting the racket.
But he also knew his hips were wider and that the window they used had been replaced. He was sure the new owners also had a security system and, in any case, where would he look for the racket with so many rooms? And while he was searching frantically, he was sure to be caught by the Creepy Man wielding a gun, kunai, or at least a medieval torturing device. A part-time job was a less menacing scenario, but not by much.
At this point really wished he was vampire-he'd never heard of Dracula having a job.*3*
--
-Naruto's POV-
Connections. They'd be wonderful if my brother knew the Queen of England, or Aya Hirano, or even better KAT-TUN*4*, but Shizune of Hokage Travel just doesn't cut it for me.
Far worse than having to show up there after school three days a week, answering in a cheery voice, photocopying tickets with that horribly blinding flash in my eyes, and talking to upright businessmen going to Europe forth time was the dress code.
-End POV-
"I'm sorry, but you won't be able to wear those…" Shizune began, staring at his shoes. "What do you kids call them?"
"Combat boots."
"We aren't in the army. And it's okay to wear lipstick."
Naruto smiled in his head, his cross-dressing tendencies had spread quickly though the small town.
"But it should be red." she finished. Hence the metal frown returning…
"Red?" he parroted.
"Though you can pick any shade."
'Ah very generous, Shizune!' he thought, "How about pink?"
"Pink would be great. And you can wear skirts. But not to short."
"Red skirts?" he asked.
"No, they don't have to be red. They can be green or blue."
"I can pick any shade?" If she was going to make him feel like an idiot, he was going to act like one.
"Certainly. And hose-"
"Not black?"
"Not ripped."
"And the nail polish," she began, staring at his fingernails.
"Not black, but any shade of red. Or pink would be great," he recited.
"Very good," she said with a big smile. "You're fitting in already!"
"Thanks, I guess," Naruto said as he got up to leave. He checked his watch. The interview had taken fifteen minutes, but it felt like an hour. This job was going to be complete torture.
"I'll see you tomorrow, at four o' clock then, Naruto. Any questions?"
"Do I get paid for the interview?"
"Your brother said you were bright, but he didn't mention your wonderful sense of humor. We'll get along great. Who knows, you may want to be a travel agent when you get older."
Iruka, his kindergarten teacher, would have been proud.
"I already know what I want to be," he replied. He wanted to say vampire, just for old time's sake. But he knew she wouldn't get it.
"What do you want to be?"
"A professional tennis player. They get free rackets!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kushina had bought Naruto some terrible brightly colored corporate clothes so he could neatly fit the package of Konoha's business world. He pulled them out the shopping bags and freaked when he saw the price tags.
"Whoa! These outfits cost more than the tennis racket. Just keep them and we'll be even."
"That's not the point!"
"This doesn't make any sense."
He reluctantly modeled a white blouse and a blue-knee length skirt. Kushina looked at him like the daughter she always wanted. Damn his girly looks.
"Don't you remember wearing halter tops, braids, and bell-bottoms?" he asked. "What I wear isn't that much different for my generation."
"I'm not that little girl anymore, Naruto. And besides, I never wore lipstick. I went au naturel."
"Ugh." he said and rolled his eyes.
"Being a teenager is hard, I know. But you'll eventually figure out who you are."
"I know who I am! And working at a travel agency and wearing a white blouse and hose isn't going to make me find the 'inner me.'"
"Oh, honey." She tried to hug him. "When you're a teenager, you think that on one understands you and the whole world is against you."
"No, it's just this town that's against me. I'd go crazy if I thought the whole world was against me!"
She hugged him tightly and this time he let her. "I love you, Naruto" she said, like only a mother can.
"You're beautiful in black, but your smashing in red!"
"Quit it, Kushina, you're wrinkling my new blouse."
"I thought you'd never say that!" she said, and squeezed him even tighter.
--
-Naruto's POV-*4*
The part-time after-school gig had to go. How could I investigate the new family if I was going to be at work all afternoon? I had to drag all those dry-clean-only clothes with me to school and keep them neatly folded in my locker until school was over. My new afternoon punishment tore me up inside.
"Why doesn't that guy go to school?" I asked Deidara as I was getting dressed.
"Maybe he isn't registered yet un."
"If I didn't have this stupid job, we could go investigating right now. Ugh!"
I was envious of Deidara, because he got to go home to the land of cable TV and microwave popcorn, while I went from a school desk to a reception desk.
After parting ways with Deidara, I snuck into the restroom and wiped off my black lipstick with a wet paper towel and replaced it with some ultra-flashy shade of red. I truly looked like a ghost with my pale complexion. I reluctantly put on my bright red rayon-and-cotton blends. "I'll miss you, but we'll be back together in a few hours," I said to my black shirt, jeans and combat boots, placing them into my backpack.
I looked in the mirror-this was one time I really thought being a vampire would come in handy. Maybe I'd look in the mirror and see nothing. Instead I saw a miserable boy standing awkwardly in girls' clothes.
I slithered out the restroom looking left and right like I was crossing the street and made my escape safely out the front door. Or so I thought.
Sai was standing on the front steps.
I freaked when I saw him but tried to ignore his presence and move on. I wanted to run, but I wasn't used to skinny heels.
"Hey Halloween's over!" he shouted, following me.
"Where's your tennis skirt? Going to a costume party as a secretary?"
I continued to ignore him, but he grabbed my arm.
I couldn't let him know that I was working, or where I was working, and, most of all, that I was working because I had to pay back my brother for the tennis racket Sai had made me lose. It would have brought him too much joy.
He looked me over, that same look he had given me when he first saw in my tennis outfit. This time I was his corporate dream boy.
"So, where are you going?"
"None of your business!"
"Really? I didn't think we kept secrets from each other."
"Get lost already."
"I'll just walk with you then."
-End POV-
Naruto stopped. "You will not walk with me! You will not go anywhere with me! You will leave me alone! For good. Forever!"
"You don't seem your usual loving self," he said, laughing. "Having a bad hair day? You should be used to that by now."
"Sai, it's over. Your games and mine! You don't have to harass me anymore. We're even. We're even for all eternity. Okay? So get out of my face!"
Sai ran after the blonde when he stormed off.
"Are we breaking up? I didn't even know we were going together, baby. Please don't leave me." he begged, jokingly.
Naruto quickly walked past the school fence and scurried down the sidewalk. He had to get to Hokage Travel.
"I can't live without you!" he said sarcastically, catching up. "Are you mad because I never gave you black roses? I'll make it up to you. I'll get you new clothes-from the graveyard." He howled with laughter. "Just don't leave me babe!"
"Cut it out!" Naruto fumed. Sai probably had two-hundred dollars in his back pocket and he'd have to work for years in a place he hated because of Sai's stupid antics.
"Just tell me where you're going?"
"Sai! Quit it! Get out of here! I'll get a restraining order if I have to!"
"Do you have a date?" He wasn't going to give up.
"Go away!"
"You're meeting someone?"
"Buzz off!"
"Do you have an interview? An interview…with the vampire?"
"Are you going to…work?"
Naruto stopped. "No! Have you lost your mind? That's so lame!"
"You are! You've got a job!" He danced around. "I'm so proud of you, my little gothic baby has found himself a job!"
Naruto was fuming inside.
"Trying for a better life? Or are you paying big brother back for that fancy little tennis racket?"
Naruto was ready to hit him, and this time send his head flying off into the distance instead of a can of spray paint.
Just then Sasori pulled up. "Sai, come on. You said you'd be on the steps. I don't have time to drive you all over town trying to find you. We have to go."
"Good, your baby-sitter found you," Naruto said.
"I'd offer you a ride to work, but we have places to be," Sai teased.
As the Camaro drove away Naruto looked at my watch. Greaaaaaat.
'My first day of work and I'm late' he thought.
--
Me: Yahoooooooooooooo! Its good to be back!
Naru: Yeah
Sasu: hn. Whatever.
Me: Oi! Oi! don't get so angry cuz' you haven't showed up yet. We're getting there slowly but surely!
Sasu:-glares-
Dei: Any who! We'll see you next time un!
Me: and reviews motivate me to type even faster than I am now!
Saso & Sai & Sasu: no flames.
Me & Dei & Naru: Bye-neeeeeeeeeeeeee! -waves-