The Life and Times of the Kazekage's Assistant
Disclaimer:I don't own Naruto. This story is inspired by a novel by Lauren Weisberger. I do, however, own Imamura Tsubasa, Tenchi Hoshiro, Suzuki Sorachi, Sendo Kanoka, and Kawasaki Tazuna, any other Ocs and the plot.
Author's Note: In this chapter, Tsubasa receives a makeover. Can you remember a time that you wanted to revamp your look and your wardrobe? If so, then you can surely relate.
Chapter Five: The Take Over, The Makeover
As I tried on the Harem's Secret bra and panties I couldn't help but unexpectedly feel confident of myself and of my body. I looked into the mirror and noted that I did have some sort of shape underneath all the baggy clothes I wore. My waist was small and I had once thought myself to be flat but somehow the Harem's Secret bra I was wearing begged to differ. I turned around and admired my backside. My butt, for a change, didn't look so unexciting either. It seemed rounder and (dare I say it) fluffy. I blushed at myself, for thinking such thoughts and quickly changed back into my previous granny-underwear and tacky outfit. I came out of the dressing room to see Tazuna was waiting patiently for me. She looked up at me and smiled, then asked me if I liked anything I had tried on.
"A little," I admitted though I wasn't telling her the very honest truth. The fact was, that I did love everything I had tried on, but I didn't want to impose on her generosity.
"Nonsense," she said as she dragged me to the checkout counter, "I will buy all of it for you… everything you tried on… Oh and these." She grabbed some perfume and lotion bottles and threw them onto the counter. She then reached for her credit card and had the lady swipe it on through.
"Arigato," I murmured as we walked out of the store.
"Now that you have sexy and frilly underwear," she squealed happily, "I will get you some clothes to go on top. I think the Kazekage would like you in a short dress kimono. Don't you?" Her hands were clapping together as she spoke. She reminded me of an excited child who was about to receive a lollipop. She was so happy to be taking over and helping me out in the fashion department. I myself was excited though I couldn't help but blush at her comment.
"I… the Kazekage… Tazuna-san that's improper," I mumbled, words failing to sound more intelligent or clever than they had.
"Don't be silly Tusbie-san," she said to me with a wide grin, "He stares at you quite a lot… I think you should flirt with him." Surprisingly I wasn't upset with her for using my nickname. I usually loathed it when strangers used it but Tazuna wasn't really a stranger. She was becoming a close friend in such a short time. The girl had a gift at being pleasant and sociable (just not with men she liked).
"Flirt with him," I asked astonished, "You're crazy! He's my boss! I can't do that!" I felt more flustered than ever at this. To flirt with my boss would be employment suicide. To have an affair with him… No, no, no. That would jeopardize everything I had made plans for and yet…
"Oh, come now," she giggled as she grabbed my wrist and we swung into Kimmora (most likely to get me my short dress kimonos).
My legs were wobbling as I sat down in the chair. They had gone on many missions before and had never been as tired as that one day of shopping. Tazuna was a beast when it came to shopping. She could shop for hours and hours on end. She had dragged my sorry behind to store after store, and boutique after boutique. She finally succumbed to my begging to put it all to an end. She had agreed but she had also then added, "We have one last place to go to!"
"Where is that," I mumbled.
"The Shimura & Suzuki-Toima Beauty Salon," she replied cheerily. I had told her that that had to be the absolute last place because I was ready to die at the moment. She had laughed at me and called me, 'such a kidder'. If only.
So there I was… sitting in that damn salon chair as some stylish hairdresser approached me, scissors in hand. I must admit that I was a bit scared as she walked toward me with those metal things. She smiled at me and asked what kind of hairstyle I would like. I was utterly confused. I had always thought there was just long hair, medium hair, and short hair. My hair was long and it was matted like the fur of a dirt covered sloth. It was a tangled mess that I just left alone without brushing at times thinking, Why bother? It was completely and utterly stubborn hair that refused to let me manage it. I had wondered if getting it cut short would help the thick matting but then I thought it might clump around my head until I couldn't breathe or see out of it.
"Give her the modern Geisha hairstyle," said Tazuna as she waved at me, fingers fluttering. She was so amazingly graceful even when she sat.
The hairdresser nodded and began to lead me over to get my hair washed. I smirked as she placed my head in the sink and began to rinse through it. I could tell she was having a hard time running her fingers through my thick and tangled hair. Her attempts were, to say the least, comical as one of her fingers got itself stuck in a knot. When she finally did get her hands out from my hair safe and sound, she began to mumble things about finally getting the chance to use her super secret weapon shampoo. She left me in the sink for a few minutes before returning with two big bottles of what I guessed to be shampoo and conditioner. I had heard of conditioner but never really used it. As a child I thought it meant to be a jutsu to tame and eat hair! Then, I had a vivid imagination. The hairdresser took hold of my mass chunk of hair and squeezed all the contents of the shampoo bottle. Her hands began to massage it and I could feel knots disappearing and tangles untangling as she worked my hair into a thick, bubbly, and fragrant lather. She soon washed it off and then replaced it with the conditioner. My hair felt tangle free and undeniably smooth as she lathered my hair with the conditioner as well. It smelled of sweet sakura blossoms. I just hoped no wasps or bees would mistake my hair for the real thing. I laughed inwardly at my own joke as she sat me up after washing the conditioner out.
"We'll buy a carton of each of those bottles," said Tazuna from her seat as she smiled over at me fondly. Cartons of each? Was my hair that unmanageable? I think she saw my worried look because she then said, "That way if you run out you'll have ample more left until I can take you shopping again."
"Tazuna-san, you are too kind," I told her with the utmost sincerity. She smiled and had told me that I was kind in return, but I do believe kindness was something that emanated off of her like chakra (or perhaps she could emanate chakra and will it into the form of kindness).
The hairdresser disappeared for a while until she returned with two huge boxes of the shampoo and conditioner bottles. Tazuna had it sent over to Sand Castle and set carefully in my room. It was astonishing that she could just ask a maid sweetly to come retrieve it all and then take it back to my room. Temari demanded things and never asked sweetly. I almost cringed as the hairdresser began to snip at my hair. I begged her not to destroy its length. I did love it long the way it was. She said that she agreed with keeping it long but she would add layers to it and give me side bangs. She parted my hair to the right after fixing up the layers and set to work on the bangs. It made me nervous to see the scissors snipping away up there but I said nothing and made no complaints. How could I possibly complain if I was so grateful?
As soon as the snipping and brushing was over, I felt safe enough to open my eyes. I could feel my mouth slowly drop down as I witnessed my new hair. Tazuna was clapping excitedly and was walking over to me. The hairdresser had stood back to admire her work. I would have stepped back to admire her work as well but I was sitting down and I think I was slightly paralyzed from the shock of seeing my hair looking silky smooth like one of Temari's hair models. I couldn't help but toss my head of tresses like her models had. "Now all you need is a trademark," chirped Tazuna as she began to play with my hair like a small schoolgirl (that brought back memories).
"Trademark," I asked her. Now what could that possibly mean?
"Like me," she said as she began to make a small braid on the left side of my hair (opposite side of my bangs). She smiled and began to hum as I waited patiently for more of an explanation. Luckily she took my silence as a hint and explained, "I always wear red lipstick. It's my trademark; what I'm known for. By always incorporating a braid into your hairdo, it'll become your trademark." At first the thought sounded silly but I couldn't help but adore the small braid she had made and then tied in my hair. It was very cute. Hah. Me… Cute. Those were two words I would have never thrown together in a sentence!
Another woman soon approached us, and I took a wild guess at who she was by checking out her makeup. She had iridescent eyeshadow that glimmered in all the right places to extenuate her light green eyes. Her face was made beautifully pale by a creamy white foundation, her cheekbones seemed higher up because of the way she had cleverly applied her blush, and her lips were full and round, adorned with a glamorous shimmering lip gloss. She grinned widely at me as she helped me out of my chair. Tazuna greeted her warmly and excitedly followed as the woman guided us to another chair. She sat me down at a chair surrounded by makeup and many mirrors, almost as many as the hairdresser's mirrors but these mirrors had better focus. They were the microscopic mirrors… or maybe it was macroscopic. I wasn't very sure.
"Your eyes are a beautiful blue color," said the woman as she grabbed something that resembled a writing pencil, "Hold still." She began to move the pencil underneath my eye carefully. I could feel myself wanting to blink desperately but maintained my cool and relaxed composure. "Close," she grunted and I took it to mean she meant for me to close my eyes (or my mouth) so I closed both. She began to apply the strange pencil thing at the rim of my lids and then instructed me to open. I glanced in the mirror and noted that my eyes looked even bluer than usual and sultry, due to the brown pencil and some smoky eye shadow she had used. "Open half way," she instructed and I did so. She grabbed some strange device I had once picked up for Kanoka (she had said it was an eyelash curler but I had thought her to be messing with me and saying that as a joke; it wouldn't be the first time), and squeezed it against my eyelashes. When she was satisfied she set it down and picked up a strange black thing with bristles. She brushed it lightly against my eyelashes until she felt they looked as she had wanted. She smiled at her work and nodded as she began to pull some other makeup from her drawers. She applied a very light foundation and said I didn't need too much of it because my complexion was great. She also said, "I like the tiny mole under your right eye. Adorable." It was a dainty mole in which I thought of it more as a freckle. I thanked her anyway as she put blush to my cheeks, giving them a rosy look. It made me look healthier than usual, I had thought. She then began to use another pencil, a light pink one, to outline my lips. They traced my lips and fell past the natural line a bit to make them appear fuller than they already were. "You have pouty lips," she said to me, "You don't have to do too much with lip pencil… lucky girl." I think she meant it as a compliment so I nodded to her in reply. She soon got her hands on a lip gloss and brushed it over my lips like a paint brush. "All done," she cooed as she took many steps back to admire all her exertion. "You take what I used on you and you use it to impress a handsome young man."
I began to blush and thought I must have looked extra pink because I was already wearing some as I mumbled, "Handsome young man?" Now who could that be?
"Oh, hai," she said to me, "You are red so you know who you want to impress… I will give it free of charge today because you look so pretty." She scooped all the products into a small black plastic bag and even threw a few extra things in there. She attempted to hand me the bag and I accepted (but only as a reflex).
"Oh no, I couldn't accept," I said as I began to give her the bag back.
"Do not be modest," she whispered to me, "A geisha or a model would be jealous of you." I doubted that.
Tazuna and I had spent our two hours shopping and makeovering (but I wouldn't tell the Kazekage that). I had cleverly hidden all the things she had purchased for me in my room before returning to the assistant's suite. Tazuna had told me to go back and wash my makeup off and then keep wearing my old clothes for a while. She had said that she would be giving me lessons during the next two months on how to use makeup, how to fix my hair, and how to carry myself like a model when I walked into the room. So I would wear my new outfits in two months and believe me; I had a lot of new outfits. I could have sworn that Tazuna was going to max out her credit card on me but then she laughed and said, 'Don't be silly… this is nothing!' I can't even imagine having that much money. I wouldn't even know what to do with it! But I was excited for the looks on Matsuri's and Kanoka's bitch faces when I would blow them away in two months with the new Tsubie. Until then, I would play it cool and stay as I was. There was no need to ruin a perfectly good surprise.
I had just sat at my desk when my phone began to ring like a bleating sheep. I grabbed at the damn thing and it nearly slipped out of my hand. I answered the call saying, "Moshi, moshi. This is the Kazekage's assistant Imamura Tsubasa. How may I assist you?" I knew who it was on the other line; it was Temari. Her name had appeared on the screen.
"Did Sand Republic confirm?"
"Confirm?" I asked, confused completely. I didn't know what the hell she was talking about. I wasn't her assistant. Matsuri was, and Matsuri wasn't there.
"It baffles me that you don't know what the word confirm means," she snarled through the phone and I swear I could almost feel her fan rising to beat upon me.
I ran to Matsuri's desk to see if she had written anything of the sort down on a notebook. I wasn't surprised to find that my assumptions had been correct. All she did at her desk was doodle pictures of her and my boss. It was utterly disgusting. There were pictures of her and him shopping, then at a photoshoot, him carrying her purse while she struck poses, and the most disgusting, her and him kissing as they were photographed by the paparazzi. I ripped the paper out, crumpled it in my hand and tossed it in her waste bin. Matsuri clearly had too much extra time on her hands while I did everything for both our bosses. I gritted my teeth and flipped through more papers only to find more and more drawings of Matsuri's twisted fantasies. I sighed into the phone. "Did Sand Republic confirm or not?" demanded Temari. I could hear her fingernails rapping against something impatiently.
"I… I don't know," I stammered into the phone like a bumbling idiot. What else could I tell her?
"I am mystified," she told me as my mind struggled to remember exactly what 'mystified' meant. "I am mystified that you couldn't have simply said that in the first place. Call Sand Republic yourself and ask if they have confirmed. Make haste." And before I could reply the ominous click sounded and I knew the conversation was over.
"Make haste Tsubasa," I mimicked as I looked in Matsuri's address book. I wasn't at all surprised that under 'G' were Gaara's office number and room number. Matsuri was a little stalker if you ask me. I finally found 'S,' and next. Sand Republic. I was distracted as the door to the suite swung open loudly. I cringed as Temari stormed into the office. She gave me a dirty look and went right through the French doors to see her brother. I sighed as I grabbed the phone and dialed Sand Republic.
As the line rang I heard Temari shout at me, "Do you have Sand Republic yet?"
I prayed that someone would hurry and pick up the damn phone when someone answered. "Moshi, moshi. This is Imamura Tsubasa, Temari-sama's assistant," I said to the man that had answered. Actually I'm the Kazekage's assistant but lately it seems I'm playing both his assistant and Temari's, is what I wanted to tell the man but I refrained. I put my hand to the receiver and called out to Temari, "I have Nobuto."
"Finally," said Temari in an annoyed voice as she came to retrieve the phone from me. She snatched it away from my hand, scratching the outside of my thumb. I was going to angrily plop down at my desk when my boss called for me to come in. What can it be now, I thought as I walked over to face more demands and hassles.
Author's Note: Before you must venture off on any errands like Tsubasa always has to, if you could make time to leave a review with your thoughts, I'd love to hear them :)