The redhead angrily snatched a roll of toilet paper off of the shelf in the supply closet, muttering under his breath a string of vulgar and angry words. He searched the small supply closet for some kind of implement to pick up the shattered remains of his coffee cup without the risk of cutting open his fingers.

He once again snarled at the lack of his findings and turned around sharply, only to be pushed back by his impulse, a pair of lilac eyes meeting his faded shades of green. The owner of these deep pools also took a step back from the shock of his reaction and quickly looked away, her index fingers pushing into each other slowly and gently.

"A-Ano… what are you looking for?" The question was directed at him, but the words were aimed towards the now dusty floor of the small step in cupboard. Her eyes explored the room, as if looking for any kind of distraction from the man standing in front of her.

He bit back a sarcastic comment that brewed inside him, sighing to try and calm himself down before responding to his new employee.

"I am attempting to find a dustpan and brush." He stated in a soft, worn out voice, a small tremble of irritation laced in his words. The girls' lips faltered into a small frown at his tone.

"Obaa-chan usually l-left them in the bathroom…" She tried to be louder than usual but her words still rolled out peacefully, not holding much force behind them. The male nodded in response which was completely unseen by the shy woman in front of him.

He scowled slightly at how she averted her gaze from him. As if she was scared, disgusted or fearful of him. She radiated an awkward uncomfortableness that he had seen many a man show his father as they shook in front of him. The very thought that he also created those emotions in someone; the thought that he was in any way just like him… made him feel great unease. It clenched at his stomach and brought a small, painful pang of anger to the back of his mind.

He raised his hand to her face slowly and cupped her chin with his finger and thumb. The young lady was quite surprised by the sudden physical contact and froze up, her face heated from the blood now rushing to her head. He had unexpectedly soft but cold hand that held her chin firm but not tight enough to harm

He held her gaze with his soft eyes, his brow furrowed lightly in annoyance.

"If I am to be your boss, you must be able to both look at me at all times, and be able to communicate with me fluently. Okay?" she was still frozen in shock and was unable to respond. He raised his eyebrows and cocked his head to the side "Okay?" he repeated

The girl broke free of his hold with a quick nod. He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Try again…"

She scrunched up her face and grew redder in the face. She clenched her hands into fists and summoned up as much courage as possible. "H-Hai!" She remained still and was brought out of her stupor by a soft 'hm'

A single hand slowly lowered onto the top of her head and patted her gently. "Good. Now lead me to the dustpan and brush. Please." The polite word seemed to be an afterthought, a small indicator that Gaara may not be completely well tuned when it came to social interaction

Hinata raised her head to be met with a small smile and pale green. From the angle that she looked upon him, she could see the definition in his face and form. He chin was sharp and angled; his lips small and pale. Although the taller gentleman had quite a dark shade of hair, his eyebrows were thin and quite light in comparison, almost to the point of nonexistence. His shaggy hair drooped down over his forehead, which at further investigation had some sort of marking, maybe a scar, on his left side.

She shook her head and collected her thoughts before turning around heading towards the bathrooms. Gaara followed her closely; seemingly apathetic towards anything that had just occurred; almost as if it were a regular thing.

They collected the necessary item and returned swiftly to the impatiently waiting Sakura. Her arms were crossed and her foot rapidly tapped on the floor.

"Took an awful long time to get some paper towels and a brush... Anything I'm missing?" a mixture of teasing and annoyance in her words.

"Blatantly." The redhead replied in a bored tone. "You forgot to mention the dustpan"

"The dustpan wouldn't have increased your time by much." She growled lightly, only to be thrown a worried look by Hinata

Gaara, who was now brushing the last couple of pieces of porcelain into the dustpan stood up and looked at the dustpan intently before looking Sakura directly in the eye, emotion vacant from his face. "It's a heavy dustpan."

"I can tell we're going to be great friends." She mumbled sarcastically, rolling her eyes at him as he walked away to dispose of the trash.

He leaned on the counter and looked over at the two. "I assume you have no more questions and are satisfied?" He questioned, looking at them with a lazily cocked eyebrow.

Sakura stood up slowly and beckoned Hinata with a single hand motion, sighing. "Questionless, yes. Satisfied, no." the pair walked slowly to the door, the darker haired of the two looking back at the sound of the Cafés new owner's voice calling out:

"Hinata. The shop will open in four days. If you have any questions or problems with anything, please return here whenever. Sakura, feel free to come by whenever as well; as long as you have good reason to, and not to just ask me inane questions."

Sakura made a small noise of confirmation that she had heard him and gave a slight wave of the hand, but didn't look back.

Hinata looked at him with her cheeks tinted a light pink, nodding at his words and waving her hand gently to him before running out the door to join her friend.

Gaara sighed and let himself slide down the counter until he was sat on the floor.

Things might change for the better? Who knows, maybe his brother was right.

He didn't remember to tell him it would be so… stressful.

He was struggling to communicate with the two people he had met so far. He had to remember the words and teaching of his siblings and grandmother and completely go against his natural instinct of being incredibly blunt with people.

Today had been the first time he touched someone by choice, and he did it absent mindedly in what could be considered a rude action.

He sighed once more and slumped his head back.

This was difficult already.