.o44Coffee.
The comforting smell of freshly baked pastries or coffee did nothing to calm down frayed nerves and quelling disgust within a girl behind a marble counter. Slowly she wiped away imaginary grime on the surface of the said counter trying to count to some sound number to reign in an unforgettable temper. (Her grandmother was the one who definitely blessed her with it.) It was the same time, EVERY DAY besides the weekends these assholes would enter. Fingering their gun belts and bragging loudly 'did you see me take down that jaywalker?!' Their voices were haughty and they always asked for the same coffee and pastries, all while attempting to flirt to her horror. Not all of them were stud muffins as they would like to think but that never stopped them. They always enunciated her name as if it was Sexy, it was Sakura! Damnit not Sa-Ku-Ra. When Karin was on duty they still flirted and she took it all with blushes and smiles. Sakura well she felt like gagging in the background when this happened.
She was their favorite target for harassment; after all she was new and didn't know their weak points just yet. Karin after much deliberation used their weaknesses against them when she got bored of their fraternizing. Sakura was at the mercy of the wolves when she was on duty. Often times their group was a mixture of the older more elite officers and the younger deputies and ALL OF THEM were of the same family. Uchiha. The only Uchiha she knew from school was named Sasuke and he was a popular dick that Karin gushed on about for hours while they worked. All Sakura knew is that he was an asshole who took advantage of his best friend and many girls that attended the local high school that she transferred in to. And that Sasuke attempted to do the same with her and still is. The pinkette was thankful to be able to use her powers of non popular abilities to slip away from him multiple times. She had to hide in the girl's bathroom, on the roof or off campus multiple times because of his randy and most aggressive behavior. The school did nothing about that and the abundant supply of bully fan girls. She at least made friends with a martial arts obsessed girl and a girl who was so shy she stuttered like mad in the face of danger. But at least they were nice and not avid Pretty boy followers like the populace of women.
Rarely did she go to school, thankfully having her grandmother, Tsunade to sign over a sort of deal with the school that she'd go only twice a week. After all Sakura proved herself efficient enough to finish and was quite able to be ahead of all her classmates. Thus school was really just a waste of time other than socialization. So she figured she'd work and save up money for college when the time came around, thus her current employment and predicament. Working in a coffee shop and unable to avoid her arch 'nemesis' and his family of men. At least she enjoyed her job and he wasn't personally rich enough to spend money of coffee and pastries every single day like his police relatives.
Today though was slower; it was cloudy and drizzling nonstop the entire morning. There were the regulars and that was about it, the police officers missed their punctual harassment. Lucky her. She leaned up against the counter looking over her shoulder at the drizzle and the line of pine trees on the other side of the road. In her hand was a complimentary cup of java that all workers of the coffee house were allowed to have. The day was a blessing in its self not only did the uchiha's NOT come in today but Karin was sick and gone as well leaving her to man the boat. Though lonely it was better than being harassed and blathered too about sexual interests. Sakura took that time to clean everything more thoroughly than they usually could on sunny days, and then began to read her collection of fictions by Jorge Luis Borges she obtained through barns and noble.
To be honest when Karin asked her why she disliked the Uchiha's she simply stated she had to leave a lover behind in Suna. She really missed a certain green eyed red head that probably moved on with the likes of Matsuri. Also when she was telling the prying Liberian esq woman about why Sakura didn't like the black haired 'hotties' of Konoha she failed to disclose that she disliked the Uchiha men's flagrant behavior towards her and almost all women that graced their path. She rather just stay out of their way than flirt with danger.
The background of the café played some sort of jazz with a standup base, mellowed out guitar and its basic drum kit. It was nice, better than the poppy radio that Karin always made them listen to. Today was a perfect day for her despite the rain she would have to brave on her walk home.
He hated the incompetence of his relatives, the nerve of them. Instead of taking care of real crimes they were attacking people for petty little things like jaywalking. Dark eyes narrowed at the stack of papers he had to do, his new partner who thank god wasn't a relative blinked at him cautiously from his seat. Hashirama was his age, and pretty adept at his job being a police officer. Both had hair that was longer than regulation and that was fine, both of them somehow got around that and kept it out of their way.
"Want to go get some coffee?"
His partner simply asked his formal police hat beneath his uniformed arm. Madara blinked simply for a moment before replying in his usual acronym or whatever.
"Hn."
Madara is the youngest acting police captain on the force alongside his Uncle, Fugaku. He enjoyed his work despite the lack of movement within his life. Everything started getting boring and fast which made him irritable and often lack a luster in most social situations. He tried dating when his younger brother suggested a relationship might cure his blues but most women he picked up were only in to his looks and family name. They were fun to fool around with but nothing to really set dreams and wishes upon. They were never ready to take their relationship seriously and he decided when they made their last denial that they were not meant to be. Relationships were easily broken apart and he found himself angry at his subordinates for taking their job so laxly despite the obviously tiny crime rate. So despite the great job he was doing he was known as the work nazi and oft avoided by coworkers on duty.
"I take that as a yes then, Madara."
His chocolate haired partner grinned at him; crap he was caught now for acknowledging him. Madara sighed before standing up, putting his pen down on the unfinished paper work and taking up his Russian 'bear' sort of hat up from the desk corner. His jacket was near the door, which was convenient than wearing it through the offices.
"Fine this place better be the best fucking coffee ever, Hashirama."
I mean why even bother going out for coffee when you can make it yourself? But from the harassment of his partner and reviews from colleagues the café was supposed to be very good. He placed the hat over his layered locks of jet snuggling it in for good measure. It didn't look exactly very police like besides the gleaming gold badge on its front. Madara huffed lightly as Hashirama added in a few words before rolling out to the squad car.
"I heard one of the girls there is really cute. Maybe you will get lucky and find a girl who might be serious about you."
His hand was up against the side of his lips, directing words at him. Madara humored his friend with a smile. But his words were very negative which was unbecoming of a young man such as himself.
"I highly doubt it."
Many friends and family members pulled the 'this girl is cute or I hear she is cute' sort of spiel to waiver his attention towards the opposite sex. It worked the first two times after he graduated the academy but then it lost its effect especially when these seemingly cute girls turned out to have extremely ugly personalities. Both men grabbed for their heavy down stuffed coats and strolled to the car, making light conversation on topics other than the café and women. When they got in they booked it to the café, not in any real hurry to return to the station to do paper work though Madara probably wanted to. Little did he know that the hands of fate were going to pull him and a very new girl together despite their difference in age.
So far out of the three hours she was currently at work, only a small handful of possibly five came in to the café for something hot before returning to their worlds. During this time she went through four short stories and half of her homework for English when the police arrived. One of the men looked quite displeased the other was laughing. It was strange not to see the usual groups of police pairs come through the door. To her chagrin both were almost god like creatures, surely if she were a kind soul she would have gotten pictures of both of them with signatures for Karin. In a half lidded manner the girl stared at both dark haired creatures as they paced their way to the countertop of inexplicable tidiness. Both had name tags that she slowly red, the more coffee colored one – Hashirama and the dark almost black haired man – Madara.
"Hi can I get you two anything?" Sakura rolled over the usual crackle of words repeated for all patrons. Madara looked at her with a raised eyebrow as if she were not supposed to say shit to them. His partner shot him a glare which caused the barista to stifle a giggle. Madara had always been partial to slight, pale girls. This one was on a definite attraction list compared to many other women that had flickered with in his life time. (Not including his mother, he always thought of her as being beautiful.). Sakura as well knew she felt slightly attracted to dark men and now there were two in front of her! But she had to stifle girlish whims for her job just as Madara keeping his tongue under check. He founded himself strangely tempted to start hitting on the girl with the small gold name plate of Sakura stamped in. she smiled at them wanly waiting for them to decide a drink from the extensive menu overhead. But after a while she started to get slightly miffed at their slow ability at picking a drink, IT WASN'T THAT HARD WAS IT?
It looked to her that they obviously were overwhelmed with choices other than black as sin coffee with creamer. Madara was really waiting for the over exuberant partner of his to order first hoping the girl would set sail on the ship of squealing fangirldom on him first. But this was getting too much to stand, as Hashirama took his sweet invaluable time. Instead she stood almost dreamily at the counter, staring past them at the rain. It was as if the barista was in her own little fantasy world, probably starting to doze off while his partner was looking and oogling. "I'd like a Cappuccino with whipped cream and room for cream. " Madara muttered and the girl snapped too in military precision writing it down on a tiny pad and the price on the side. Hashirama balked momentarily looking at his partner suspiciously. 'What are you trying to do, ruin my chances?' the man whispered haughtily at his partner as the girl waited for them blinking cutely. Sakura was perchance amused by their antics, reminded heavily of her classmate Naruto and the prick Sasuke. Quickly the milk chocolate haired police officer huffed and turned to her with a wide illustrious grin, and divulged her in his secret of the drink he so wished to have.
"I'll have the house special! With room for creamer and sugar please. Also could this all be for here? My partner and I haven't been able to go on many patrols lately so it's nice to get out you know" He talked faster than Karin and Ino put together at a cute cute cute boy festival. Sakura tried not to gag behind her plasticized smile, writing down the order and the total for the entire shebang. "I'll bring it out for you, please find a seat." With that they thankfully moved to a booth, leaving her in her world of coffee again. Whirring like clockwork her form moved gracefully from pouring out a cup of house special java with room for creamer to messing with the cappuccino machine to get the handsome man his fix. They sat momentarily gossiping like hens lightly smiling and debating recent events like space findings and the like. Sakura was thankful that they didn't partake in to the harassment of she.
つづく
Tsuzuku~