A/N: Alright people. This is officially the longest chapter I've ever done. You can thank SakuraHarunoxBleach and Mesweet735. The former requested this and Mesweet gave me ideas of what to do with Kiba. Also a big shout-out and thanks to GeekCheerleader for praising my work in her own fanfics. She's an awesome author, loyal fan, and most importantly a great friend. If you don't know who these people are LOOK THEM UP RIGHT NOW! Now then I have chess strategy in here that's known as the rook roller. Though it's not important to the chapter itself in my opinion I'm going to tell you about it anyway. YOU DON'T HAVE TO READ THIS PART OF MY A/N! The rook roller is where you use either both your rooks OR your queen to push the king to the side of the board and corner him. IF you do it right it's very hard to counter this strategy which is why Sasori panics. The strategy Sakura actually uses is one where she traps the king with her two rooks AND her queen. She forces the king between her two rooks and the king has nowhere to go. Then she positions her queen between the two rooks and traps the king. If you can do that it's another very difficult strategy to counter. Chess talk is over now. Take care!

Disclaimer: The characters are not mine!

Creature Café

Chapter 4: Can't Catch a Break

Sakura woke up sore, stiff, and drained. She knew the first two typically came from sleeping on the couch but the last one was undoubtedly from the two encounters with wealthy men. Her mind was hazy and she felt like she couldn't think. For someone who was always proud of their intelligence it was a terrible feeling. She looked at the clock and noticed it was quarter to 4 pm. She grinned for the first time that day. No time like the present for cloud watching.

She felt like she'd been cooped up in her flowery apartment all day. This way she could get out and clear her head in one activity. She quickly changed into a formfitting green sweater that matched her eyes and some light gray yoga pants. The former was bought by Ino as a part of the "investment." She had to make sure she was comfortable to make the experience complete. She grabbed her black hoodie jacket and after running a brush through her hair, washing her face, and grabbing her iPod she was out of there before 4.

The park was absolutely beautiful. The cherry blossoms were blooming and the wind was blowing twisting and molding the clouds into new shapes every few minutes. It wasn't too hot or too cold. In other words it was a perfect spring day. Sakura became sidetracked from her perusal of the day when she noticed that there, under a shady cherry tree, was a young man with a rather strange hairstyle sleeping. When she noticed he was a very handsome man she immediately began to jog-run in the opposite direction. She'd had her fill of all men for the next few years.

After an hour of cloud watching, the weather began to get a little cool for her taste. She knew she had her jacket but if she put it on now she would get too warm. Sakura decided that it might be better to leave since spring nights could get very cold and her jacket wouldn't do much once the sun had completely set.

She was making her way back out of the park when she passed by the cherry trees again and found the same man from before sleeping under the same tree. In fact it looked as if he hadn't moved at all. Talk about sleeping like a rock. She knew he could get mad at her if she woke him and that it was none of her business where he slept. However she also knew that it was getting colder and she should probably wake him up anyway.

With those thoughts in mind she went over and tried to shake him awake. The most she got from him was a grunt. She clapped her hands by his ear but he still did not stir. After several more futile attempts to wake him up a thought occurred to her. Maybe he's really exhausted and needs this sleep. Sakura was about to leave him be when a chilly wind blew by and caused the man to groan in his sleep. She took a good look at what he was wearing and she could see why. He wore a thin dark gray t-shirt that the wind was probably blowing strait through along with some old and tattered looking jeans with a few holes in them.

Sakura wanted to just leave him be. She wanted to go home, but he looked cold. He was actually starting to curl in on himself. She knew that if she left him now it would plague her conscience. With that in mind she placed her jacket over him and pulled out her iPod so she could listen to music while he slept. If it got too cold she would smack him awake whether her conscience liked it or not.

Sakura shut her eyes as the music began and before long she was quietly singing Katy Perry's Firework. She forgot the world and everyone in it, including the young man behind her who was beginning to regain his senses as he slowly awakened.

Normally Shikamaru would try to go back to sleep once he woke up with nothing important to do. However when a song had entered his dream, he was quickly led back to reality by the beautiful voice. When he regained his senses he became aware of the owner of the voice singing softly to herself. For a long time he just looked at her, stunned by her appearance. He had no idea why she was sitting under the tree with him, but he was certain no one had been there when he had fallen asleep.

She had a very strange effect on Shikamaru that he was in no way familiar with. He felt his entire body relax at the sound of her voice rather than tense at the thought of some stranger intrude on his quiet time. For the first time he was completely at peace while being awake. He supposed if he had to describe what he was feeling it would be absolute contentment. He was so distracted by these foreign emotions that it was another few minutes before he realized the jacket covering him was not his. Slowly he got up and with the jacket in hand he sat beside the petite female with the voice of an angel.

Sakura felt someone sit beside her and swiftly pulled out the ear-buds while silencing her voice. She may not care whether people like her voice or not but that didn't mean she wasn't going to just keep singing and ignore the guy. That would be downright rude. He fidgeted uncomfortably for a second under her curious gaze before he handed her the jacket she had covered him with.

"Thank you for lending me the jacket, but why did you lend it to me? If I may be frank," Shikamaru began before the unknown girl cut in.

"No, it's my turn to be frank." She said in a serious voice before grinning at her own joke. Her grin had to be contagious because Shikamaru found himself smiling as well.

"You're hilarious." He stated with playful sarcasm.

"I try." She replied.

This time Shikamaru did laugh. He was actually enjoying someone's playful banter. It was highly unusual for him but facts were facts.

"What's your name and what compelled you to lend me your jacket? No one's that nice."

"My name is Sakura, but if that's your opinion then I guess I'm no one. I saw you were cold so I lent you my jacket. You weren't waking up for anything short of assault so I figured you were exhausted. Even if it makes me a busybody I did what I could tolerate and if you did something callous or unpleasant in return that would be on you. As you said before we don't know each other so you have less power to hurt me than you would if you were my friend. By the way, I don't believe I caught your name either." Sakura retorted.

"The name's Shikamaru. You said I have less power, meaning I still have some. Why would you risk it?" Shikamaru's curious mind couldn't get enough answers. He had never known anyone to act this way. Yet for every question he asked it seemed she had response.

"I'm capable of defending myself from a physical attack and after the day I've had, I doubt words could hurt me anymore than they already have." At this Sakura smiled slightly though her eyes spoke volumes of her pain. This made Shikamaru instantly regret his question. Yet he couldn't say why since emotions were not his forte. He was a man of the mind through and through, so of course he wouldn't recognize the desire to comfort her. Even if he did acknowledge said desire he had no idea how he would go about comforting her.

Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck. These feelings were such a drag and he didn't even know what they were. He did know they were responsible for what he was about to say. "Sakura, would you like to have dinner with me, as friends? I'd like to thank you for lending me the jacket."

"I don't know, Shikamaru. I've had a long a day, and judging from how deeply you were sleeping, you have too. Maybe we should wait for a different day."

"That's fine. I need a day to prepare anyway. When are you free?" As usual Shikamaru was one step ahead of the game.

Sakura sighed and gave in. "I'm free tomorrow if you insist."

"I do." Shikamaru wasted no time in replying. With that he stood and helped her up. Suddenly a new thought occurred to him. "You're not walking home alone are you?" Shikamaru questioned.

"Well yeah, I am. Why?" Sakura responded. It was apparently the wrong answer since Shikamaru's face darkened considerably.

"You're not anymore. I'll take you back. It isn't safe for a woman to be out alone after the sun sets. You never know who could be out there."

"Wait a minute Shikamaru! I told you I'm capable of defending myself. You don't need to worry about me." Sakura trailed off when Shikamaru gave her a hard glare. Sakura didn't like being pushed around but something in his eyes told her he wasn't going to back down.

"Sakura, I don't doubt you could defend yourself against an unarmed opponent, but if someone catches you off guard and sticks a gun to your head what would you do then?" Shikamaru's voice was cold and full of pain. His words shocked Sakura. She truly wouldn't know what she would do then but it scared her to think about it.

"You win Shikamaru. You can walk me home alright? I'm sorry if I said something to upset you. Really I am." Sakura apologized in a soft voice and reached out to run her hand up down his arm in a gesture meant to comfort.

Shikamaru looked at Sakura and his expression melted into a softer one without him realizing it. "It wasn't anything you did Sakura. I would tell you about it, but it's still painful for me to just remember it. Talking about it is out of the question, for now at least."

"Alright then why don't we go back to talking about dinner plans? You still haven't told me what we're doing that takes an entire day to prepare." Sakura declared.

"Now Sakura what's the point of a surprise if you talk about it? It'll be much more fun if you have no idea what I'm doing." Shikamaru affirmed. Then he made the mistake of looking at her and nearly had a heart attack. She was pouting and instead of being troublesome he found it to be the most adorable look he'd ever seen in the entire human race. Many actresses strived and failed for the first half of their lives to be so lovable and this girl had mastered it when she couldn't be more than eighteen or nineteen.

"Shikamaru what's wrong?" Sakura inquired worried about him when she saw him turn away so fast she would be surprised if he didn't have whiplash.

To top it off she has no idea what effect she has on men. Oh man, talk about troublesome. As Shikamaru was trying to fight down the blush, Sakura shook off her worry, looked up, and watched the clouds a bit trusting him to either tell her what was wrong or deal with it on his own. When Shikamaru fought the heat away from his face he turned to look at Sakura again and felt it climb back up. He just didn't learn did he?

However before he could get too wrapped up in her expression his curious mind reared its head and demanded to know why she was looking up at the sky. "Sakura, what's up with the sky?"

"Oh, I'm just watching the clouds a bit. I was doing it before I lent you my jacket too. It clears my head and calms me down. Not to mention the clouds are beautiful. I never get bored watching them twist and swirl into new shapes and sizes. You may think it ridiculous but finding shapes in the clouds is a kind of magic for me. It always makes me feel better." She sighed running her hand through her hair.

Shikamaru was shocked, yet found himself unfathomably pleased as well. He too loved to watch the clouds. It was like she was reading off the things he enjoyed about cloud-watching. He had always thought he was the only adult who truly enjoyed looking at the clouds. It was practically too good to be true. Here was this woman, beautiful inside and out. She was the most fascinating person he had ever come across. His intellect and heart thrived on just talking to her, and she loved to watch the clouds for the same reasons he did.

He didn't think he would ever find a woman who didn't bore him to death and had given up on meeting one he was attracted to after two minutes of being in their presence. His mind reeled for a moment as he finally had the epiphany he'd been waiting for. He was attracted to Sakura. He liked her more than he liked anyone else he'd ever seen. He liked her way more than he liked himself and about half of that like was more than just friendship. He was certain now. Tomorrow had to be the best night she's ever had. Working hard was always a drag, but Sakura was more than worth it. With those final thoughts they arrived at her apartment.

Sakura turned to him and smiled an unsurprisingly beautiful smile. "Thanks for walking me home Shikamaru. Can I get you anything before you're on your way?" She queried tilting her head to the side.

Another foreign feeling came over Shikamaru. He gave her his number in case something came up, before he decided to get the hell out of there before he did something to ruin their newfound friendship. He never knew it could be so hard just saying goodnight to a girl he barely knew. I've got to be patient. He chanted internally all the way back to his own apartment.

-The next day-

Sakura had just eaten an early lunch and was vacuuming up fallen flower petals and leaves when her phone rang. She knew it. She knew something bad was about to happen. Today had been boy free and she knew God would not let her stay that happy for long. When she checked the caller ID her fears were confirmed. It was none other than Ino.

"Ino please don't say what I think you're about to say." Sakura pleaded to no avail.

"Sorry Sakura. I know you needed a little break from the job but a close friend of Deidara's is coming and we need to stay in this man's good graces. Normally this would not require you to come in but he requested someone who was intelligent. Intelligence to this guy is brilliance to other people. You were the first to come to mind."

"Now you're just outright flattering me in the hopes that I'll come in." Sakura deadpanned.

"Is it working?" Ino asked sounding dead tired and highly un-Ino.

"… Give me a half-hour. I'm sure there's something I can where in my closet." Sakura confirmed.

"There's no need for that Sakura." Ino stated. Her voice changed from tired to apprehensive and Sakura found she knew why.

"Ino you didn't." Sakura asserted. There was no way she was working that floor.

"I'm afraid so Sakura. Today you'll be working the top floor, the Penthouse." Ino corroborated.

Sakura sighed. "I can't catch a break. I guess there's nothing I can do since you're the boss. Will you at least tell me how perverted he is?" Sakura requested.

"Sakura you're the best! You don't need to worry. He's more concerned with the art than he is with women. On top of that since I'm calling you in on your break I'll pay you the same for the half day today as I would for a full day!" Ino assured her.

"Let me make another call and I'll be right down." Sakura conceded. She was looking forward to her surprise from Shikamaru but she guessed that would have to wait. She quickly dialed the number he gave her and waited till he picked up. When he did she felt it was best to just give it to him straight.

"Shikamaru, you know how you gave me this number in case something came up?" Sakura began.

"Are you alright?" Shikamaru cut in. His voice was thick with worry. He didn't seem like the type to worry about anything. It caused Sakura to be shocked into silence until he called out to her again, still awaiting her reply.

"I'm fine Shikamaru, but I would be a lot better if work hadn't called to drag me in today." Sakura stated soothingly.

"Well if you don't have any problems with it, I can pick you up from there just as easily." Shikamaru compromised.

"Would you mind?" Sakura questioned sounding as delicate as her namesake. It could melt the heart of man much colder than Shikamaru. He didn't stand a chance.

"I wouldn't mind at all. Just tell me where you work and I'll be there." He guaranteed. Sakura thanked him profusely, told him the address, said her goodbye, and finally hung up. This left Shikamaru to give in to his dread. He knew that address. Ino had been pestering him for a long time to go into that café and the thought of Sakura working there made him want to cringe. It was a well known fact that the shop's patrons were almost always perverted.

Shikamaru decided that for now he would continue to prepare the dinner and when he was done he'd go to the café and protect Sakura as best he could. With that Shikamaru began working out a strategy. After all, using his head is what he did best.

-At the café-

Sakura was walking into the café with 10 minutes to spare before the lunch rush. Checking her watch to make certain she was on time, she made the mistake of not watching where she was going, and ran headlong into what felt like a person shaped brick wall. However when she looked up from where she fell on her rear she found not bricks but a grinning Kiba holding out his hand to help her up. Sakura made the mistake of taking that hand and Kiba's innocent grin turned mischievous. Next thing she knew Kiba had pulled her into an embrace right there in broad daylight.

"K-K-Kiba, what do you think you're doing?" Sakura demanded her voice slightly hysterical. She couldn't believe he was doing this in the doorway. His head was buried in her neck while his hands pulled her closer by her hips.

"Why haven't you been returning my calls? I missed you." Kiba's hold suddenly switched from slightly suggestive to romantic as his muscled arms wrapped around her waist and his head lifted from her neck to push his forehead against hers. As his eyes met hers she was shocked and a little frightened by the intense look there.

Sakura was hesitant but she was never a good liar so she told him the truth. "There are several numbers on my phone I don't recognize so I don't know which is which. I wasn't ignoring you intentionally. Besides that I don't know why you would be interested in me. There are many girls in there who are far more beautiful than me."

Kiba released his grip on her but tilted her head up towards his. "I understand now that you don't see yourself very clearly. Don't worry though. I'll show you just how beautiful you really are." With that Kiba spun around and went back inside.

Sakura was stunned at how romantic he was. Then she looked at her watch again and forgot everything but how she needed to be upstairs in two minutes. She began to make her way upstairs when she was nearly toppled over by Deidara's overly enthusiastic glomp.

"Sakura-chan, are you sure you want to do this yeah? I can always assign another woman to wait on Sasori yeah. That prick doesn't even look at the girls anyway. That way you and I could have a nice quiet lunch together, yeah."

"Yamanaka-san, I came here to work and that's exactly what I'll do. Besides Ino-san said that you can't afford to lose this customer and he was specific in what type of girl he wanted. You said his name's Sasori right? Just leave everything to me Yamanaka-san." Sakura wasn't even finished when Deidara pulled her into another hug.

"It's completely unfair that you call Ino by name so easily but I have to beg you to call mine and you will only do so outside of work when I barely get to see you, yeah. Still there's no doubt that you could charm the life out of Sasori, so I guess I have no choice, yeah. If he tries anything call me. I'll be there in a heartbeat." Deidara promised. The lack of "yeah" at the end of his last few sentences showed just how serious he was.

I'm surprised at how swoon worthy Kiba and Deidara are being. Did they just wake up this morning and take a romance pill or something? Maybe they're sick. Sakura wondered. Of course if Sakura Haruno were anyone else she would have collapsed into their arms by now. However Sakura, being Sakura, did not faint into the arms of any man.

As Sakura was lost in her inner musings, Deidara looked over her shoulder sensing the presence of pure evil. It could only mean one thing. Sasori was sick of being kept waiting.

"Deidara, I should have known you'd be slacking off. Since you're obviously preoccupied perhaps I should just leave." Deidara heard Sasori's threat loud and clear. 'Get to work or I leave and take my money with me.' That was what Sasori was really saying.

Deidara sighed and gave Sakura a gentle push towards the changing rooms despite his instinct to stand between her and the potential threat known as Sasori Akasuna. When Sasori took a step towards Sakura and attempted to grab her chin Sakura just slapped his hand away. Deidara grinned and Sasori was stunned.

"I assume you are Sasori-sama since Yamanaka-san would only let dear friends or invaluable customers speak to him in such a manner. If he tolerates that kind of talk so be it, but don't think you can get away with breaking the rules of this café. If you wish to dine here then you better obey every rule with the utmost strictness including rule number 1: Don't touch the waitresses. We are here for visual enjoyment and excellent food service, nothing more and nothing less." Sakura told him off.

Sasori looked like he was about to keel over. No one had ever spoken to him in such a way. It was almost too much for him to handle. He found himself extremely angry and somewhat intrigued. Either way he felt the need to put this waitress in her place.

"I see. How about a little wager then? The game is chess. The stakes – let's see – if you win you I'll give you a 25% tip every time I come in, no matter what I buy." He smirked when he saw the desire to win conflicting with her suspicions about this whole ordeal. He decided to make the deal even sweeter. "In addition if you can take my queen in a game, I'll buy you anything you like from this café. That one is a onetime deal."

"What if I lose? What do you get?" Sakura inquired expressing her doubts.

"Since I've made the deal so tempting for you, what I get should be equally tempting for me. What I desire the most right now is obedience. If I win, should I have to send a meal back a hundred times, even if there's nothing wrong with it you will do it. If I'm the most insufferable ass you have ever waited on you will continue to serve me with your head bowed. If I show kindness I expect gratitude rather than attitude." Sasori declared. His smirk widened at the shudder of disgust that ran down her spine. This would be fun.

Deidara didn't like this one bit. He knew what a great player Sasori was. He had no idea how good Sakura was, but Sasori hadn't been beaten since he first learned the game. Lunch was all but forgotten when Sakura spoke before Deidara could stop her.

"How many times do we play before the victor is decided?"

"I think one match should be more than enough to prove a point." Sasori replied.

"Excellent since I don't want to hear the words 'two out of three' or 'it was a fluke' when I win." Sakura asserted causing Sasori to chuckle.

"The same applies to you." Sasori stated. Before Deidara could talk his friend out of it Sasori was leading Sakura upstairs without touching her. Sasori pulled out the chess board in his backpack and set it up so that he was black. Sakura started by moving her pawn two spaces up. He noticed the pawn she moved gave her access to her bishop and queen. She'll probably move those next. Sasori refused to fall into her trap by moving his matching pawn and used his knight to move forward. Sakura's face remained blank.

Deciding that this would be a quick game he decided to strike up some conversation to avoid boredom. "What do you think of the painting directly behind me?" He questioned not bothering to hide the tediousness of the game. He saw her eyes twinkle for a second with new light before she put her game face back on.

"The Winding Path in the painting symbolizes life." Sakura spoke with simplicity.

Sasori rolled his eyes at her simple answer. He was surprised when he saw her move another pawn two spaces up rather than her bishop or queen. This one set her rook free. "How do you figure?"

"I'm sure you know exactly what I mean, but since you asked I'll tell you anyway. Life is often compared to a winding path like the one in the painting. Judging from your playing you have an eye for detail, so I'm sure you've noticed how the flowers on each side of the road have gaps in them. They are never on both sides of the road at the same time. One side has flowers while the other has weeds. This symbolizes the good and bad things in life. There are always good things depending on your point of view and where you look. Conversely you can also choose to always see the bad things. If you look at just one side of the road, as most people do, you see both good and bad things. The most important thing is to see the weeds at least once to truly appreciate the flowers. Those who have nothing but good times don't appreciate them. Those who only have bad times have no will to continue the path."

"Did you ever study art?" Sasori asked. He hadn't expected anything so deep. Most girls just giggled at him and talked about how it would be a nice place to go on a walk with him hand and hand if it weren't for those disgusting weeds. Some girls had something less innocent than a walk in mind, the sick bitches. Sakura opened her mouth to speak again and his attention was riveted. Once again the answer was not what he was expecting.

"No, I just love looking for the thoughts of the artist in their paintings. You really should be paying attention to the game you know. You've already lost your queen you know. I'm about to win and I don't want you to miss it."

Sasori looked down horrified that he hadn't been paying attention. His strategy to fend off boredom had worked too well it seemed. When he saw what he had done, what she had done, he was aghast. Her pieces were in the perfect position for the rook roller. His king was caught in between her two rooks while, from the looks of it, she had used her knights to get a hold of his queen and rooks. One of his knights was taken out by her bishop if he recalled correctly. That left him with very few pieces to defend with and little to no hope of winning. He checked and double checked the positions of his remaining pieces and hers. She only had her rooks, her queen, and her king left but that was all it took. She had beaten him.

Before she moved her queen to take the game entirely he preserved what little dignity he had left and knocked his king over. (That mean's "You win" in chess language for those who don't understand.) He looked up expecting to find her laughing at him, but was shocked for the umpteenth time when she was just smiling at him. Sasori felt his cheeks heat up and he looked away. It was the first smile he'd gotten from her and he finally noticed just how breath taking she was.

"Good game Sasori-sama. I better get to work now." Sakura stated patting his shoulder in a friendly way. They now had a mutual respect for each other's intelligence which made it much easier to be nice to him. Sasori felt a wave of pleasant tingles shoot their way down his spine and back up almost causing him to shiver. He knew he was attracted to her, but this was a little ridiculous.

From the corner of the room Deidara watched with a deep frown as Sasori asked Sakura about treating her. That damn ginger was moving in on his girl. Deidara felt the need to make things clear, so he started to make his way towards them. The moment Sakura was in reach Deidara hauled her into his side.

"Great game Sakura-chan, yeah!" Deidara found having her under his arm immediately banished the resentment towards his friend. It was replaced by a silly giddiness at having her so close.

Sakura didn't even blush as she brushed his arm off and when to get into "uniform." Deidara sighed as he watched her walk away. Sasori was disturbed at seeing his friend so love struck. Disturbed turned into frustrated jealousy very quickly. Sasori didn't like it. He didn't like the way they looked at her. All the men in the room had their eyes glued to her like she was just some hot piece of ass. Deidara was bad enough but at least he respected women. These perverts were just looking for some slut.

Sakura wasn't like that. She didn't try to seduce Sasori for his money or looks. She beat him at his own game for money and didn't seem to give a damn about the outer shell of the human body. Funny Sasori suddenly wanted to kill Deidara's clients. She was a beautiful and complex puzzle of a human and he wanted to spend all his time trying to figure her out.

Sasori shook his head. What the hell was he thinking? He didn't want a relationship. Even if he was attracted to her those thoughts made him sound like he was in love. Now that was preposterous. He was far too busy to be in love. Besides even if she was intelligent, beautiful, complex and deeper than the ocean – Why did he not want to fall for her again?

Sakura had been on the job since her game with Sasori three hours ago. Everything was going smoothly, but Sasori had mysteriously disappeared. She hoped it wasn't because of her. She was on her way to bring coffee to Kiba (who was now a regular) when a man's arm suddenly shot out in front of her in a wild gesture.

Sakura tried to hold back the cry of pain, but failed. Kiba sure liked his coffee hot. Speak of the devil he was rushing towards her now. Kiba reached out and grabbed her uninjured hand rushing her towards the kitchen. The moment they got there he turned on the faucet and gingerly took her burnt hand to place it under the water.

"Does it still hurt?" He asked her like a shy school boy.

"I'm okay Kiba." She reassured him.

"Don't scare me like that, Angel. I heard you scream and I thought my heart stopped." Kiba inquired pulling her into a hug. His face had reddened considerably at his actions but he did not let her go. Sakura tried to push away but Kiba still held on as if he didn't even feel it.

"Sakura" Sakura's and Kiba's heads shot up at the infuriated voice. Shikamaru was not happy.