Disclaimer: It all belongs to K. Masashi. Damn him.
Just Like Heroine
Chapter two- The Actor and the Cashier
The alarm clock set atop a small dresser went off, the loud beeping causing a lump to wriggle around under the white sheets of a queen size bed. The blob moved a bit more before a tanned arm reached out from under them, a fist slamming down on the electronic device, effectively shutting it off. A groan resounded throughout the room, followed by a small squeel and a hushed giggle.
The sheets were moved down to reveal a groggy blond, his hair ruffled and his blue eyes holding confusion, What the...? he looked around his bedroom, then got out of bed, rubbing his eyes, "Silo, time to get up," he yawned.
Another figure under the blankets wriggled around, a mop of raven hair popping out from under the white material. Silo smiled widely and sat up, holding his new bunny, "I know what I want to name her now, Chichiue!" the boy said excitedly.
Naruto looked at the white rabbit, it's pink nose twitching cutely, big gooey black eyes staring up at him. He scrunched up his nose, "Did she sleep in bed with us last night?" so that's what that sound was.
Silo nodded childishly, "I thought she'd be lonely if we made her stay in her cage all night."
"Silo... little bunnies are supposed to stay in their cages all night," Naruto sighed, "whatever, just put her in there now so I can get you ready for school."
"Hai!" placing his bunny in her cage, he waved bye, "Bai-bai, Kohi!"
"You named her after coffee?" Naruto asked tiredly, his feet dragging on the carpet, while Silo zoomed by him, his Harry Potter pjs on.
"Yep! Oh, Chichiue, can I have scrambled eggs for breakfast? And toast, too?.?"
"Sure, just go pick some clothes out of the drawers over there," Naruto rubbed his eyes and went into the kitchen, pulling out eggs and butter from the fridge.
Tugging on his jeans and yellow and white hoodie, Silo ran to the hall closet to grab his red gloves and sneakers, "Chichiue?"
"Hm?" the blond began cooking, his sleepiness finally fading away.
"Um, well... at school, they're having a thing where the mothers take their kids to work and..."
Naruto turned and looked at his son sadly, "Silo..."
"Since Okaasan's gone... do you think you could take me to work instead?" the boy looked so hopeful. He desperately didn't want to be left out.
Quickly turning off the stove and scooping the eggs onto a plate, Naruto went to his child. He bent down and pulled him against his chest, "I'd love for you to go with me... but it wouldn't be the same, you know? Don't worry, someday, you'll have another mommy that loves you this much," he pulled away and spread his arms apart as far as they would go, "and she'll love taking you to work and showing you off to her co-workers," he smiled.
Silo smiled too, "I really want an Okaasan who loves me..."
Smiling sadly, Naruto ruffled the boy's hair, "She'll come along soon, I promise."
xXxXx
"Ohayo," Sai greeted his fellow workers with a fake smile.
"Good morning, Sai!" Sakura said cheerfully, straightening out her uniform. She then heard the entrance doors to the food center open and she waved her hand to the entering worker, "Naruto!" she called.
The blond had on baggy army pants and a plain tight, white T-shirt, the belt littered with spikes. Slung over his shoulder (like always) was his Wal-mart vest. Naruto grinned and grabbed a bag of M&M's on his way towards them, "You guys are early today," he tore open the bag and poured a few of the chocolate treats into his mouth.
Hinata blushed faintly, "I-I have an appointment with my therapist this afternoon... so I'm m-making up those hours now..." she trailed off, her pale eyes tracing over the tiles that made up the white floor. She fiddled with the bottom of her vest and she bit her bottom lip nervously.
Naruto sighed, Poor Hinata... the girl was always nervous and shy. Basically because of mental abuse when she was younger. Her father would constantly yell at her, saying how she should be more like her older cousin, Neji... Naruto really didn't know what ever happened to that prat of a boy, but what he did know was that Hinata now had to see a therapist twice a week in order to get better.
Lee patted the girl on the shoulder, causing her to jump, "Do not worry, Hinata-san! You will be over your problems so soon that you will not even realize it! Your beautiful youth will help you through it quickly!"
The blue-haired girl smiled faintly and blushed, "A-arigato, Lee-kun..."
"Oi, kiddies," Jiraiya greeted them as he approched, large hands in his pockets, "I can't believe all five of you are here," he sounded suprised, "um... why?"
"Th-therapist..." Hinata muttered, her bangs covering her downcast eyes.
"My youth awoke me and the beautiful birds outside of my apartment window told me to head into work early this morning!" Lee smiled widely, "so here I am!"
Sakura stared at Lee and made a face before turning back to her boss with a smile, "You know that new romance movie that came out today? Well, I'm here because I wanted to buy a dvd before they're put on the shelves."
Jiraiya's eyes twitched, What a lovely girl.
Sai flicked a piece of fuzz off of his jeans, "I don't have a reason..."
Naruto grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck, "Uh, well... I need to work extra hours so I can get some more cash... You know, I have to buy Silo some warm clothes before winter..."
"Awww, poor Silo," Sakura clasped her hands together, "I'll help pay for some clothes, Naruto!"
Naruto smiled greatfully, "Thanks, Sakura."
"Well, since you guys are here, why don't you get to work instead? And Gaki, I'm taking the money for those M&M's out of your paycheck," Jiraiya grumbled.
"E-Ero-sannin!" the blond cried.
xXxXx
About a year ago, Naruto and his friends had wanted to be a part of a student transfer program, all of them being sent to Maryland to study up on english and such while they did their Japanese courses online. They had all needed jobs in order to sustain a normal teenage living in America, so they applied at Wal-mart. Luckily, there were enough spots for all of them. Sakura, a worker at Subway; Sai, in the electronics; Lee, in the back bringing in new cargo; Hinata, a deli worker; and Naruto, a cashier.
As you could tell, letting all of them work together wasn't such a brilliant idea on Jiraiya's behalf...
"Give it back!" Sakura screeched, lunging at Naruto and digging her lime green nails into his arm. When the blond still didn't let go of her precious item, she bit his shoulder, making him yelp and drop the dvd. Grabbing it, she backed away and glared at him.
"Y-you bit me!" Naruto said with disbelief, "you crazy whore!"
Sai sat behind the counter, flipping through a magazine littered with buff men in tight leather shorts. He glanced up at Naruto to see the blond rubbing his sore shoulder, "Naruto-san, Sakura-san... could you please go back to your work stations?" he asked indifferently, "you're scaring away my customers."
"Sure," Naruto grumbled before snatching the dvd back from Sakura and running off with it.
"Naruto!.!" the pink-haired girl screamed and took off, "give it back! I paid good money for that!"
"Pft, yeah, twenty dollars," he rolled his eyes, "how expensive!" he looked down at the cover as he continued to run, going into the toy aisles, Starring Kitani Shiro and Uchiha Sasuke... he stopped abruptly, Wait... isn't that-- He didn't get to finish his train of thought before an Avatar (Prince Zuko to be more precise) toy was pelted at his head.
"I will capture the Avatar!" the small toy growled.
Sakura glared at her friend and held out her hand, "Give it to me before I whack you with Aang's gluider," she hissed.
Naruto rubbed the back of his skull and handed the movie over, "I think you broke something..." he whimpered.
"Payback's a bitch," the girl hugged the dvd to her chest and stormed off.
"A-are you alright...?" Hinata asked as she peeked around the corner of the aisles. She blushed cutely, "she didn't hurt you... d-did she?"
"Nah, I think I'm ok," Naruto grinned to the girl, completely forgetting about the names on the dvd, "Oi, Hinata, how come you're not at the deli?"
"W-well," she tapped her pointer fingers together shyly, "things were slow... a-and Katie-san...she said I could leave and help Lee-kun with setting some t-toys up..."
"Ah, well, I should get back to my register. I bet there's customers up there all pissed off that one single line is closed," he rolled his eyes and smiled at the blushing girl, "I'll see you around later, Hinata!" he waved to her and ran off, crossing through the clothes sections and popping out near the registers.
"Register twelve is open!" he called out, shoving the little sign that read "closed" under the counter next to the trash can. He grinned when an elderly woman came up to him and placed her two items on the counter, her hands shaking slightly, "Good afternoon, ma'am!" he then rung up the items with a bright smile, "that'll be $8.36!"
The woman searched through her small change wallet, her spectacles making her brown eyes look enormous. Naruto sighed when he realized this would take a while. Tapping his fingers by the keyboard of his work computer, he began whistling a small tune until finally, the woman had her money sitting on the counter for him, "Thank you," he bowed his head and scooped the money up, placing it in the cash register.
The next few hours were filled with nothing but boring people. There was the occasional old man who felt like he had to share the events of his entire life with the blond while he pulled out quarter after quarter. But there were also the adorable kids trailing behind their parents, their chubby cheeks just begging to be pinched. It was an old habit of his, he guessed. He had always adored pinching Silo's cheeks when he was a baby.
He sighed and cracked his knuckles, looking over to see the store's slushie machine. He licked his lips and looked around. Seeing no customer rushing to his register, he snatched a polar bear cup from above his computer and took off.
A few of the Vietnamese women in the nail shop looked up, their lower faces covered with a white mask as they whispered to each other in their native language, laughing every once and a while as they snuck glances at the blond.
Hmmm, cherry or coke...? he debated the options in his head before choosing the delicious soda one, Nothing better than the burning feeling you get when you swallow it, putting a lid on it and shoving in a straw, he strolled back to his station, blinking when he saw a customer, "O-Oh, sorry, sir!" he apologized and took his spot behind the counter. He rung up the items up and couldn't help but snicker, "Lube and rubber gloves?" he asked himself, not knowing he said it out loud.
"Thinking something dirty?" the customer asked.
Naruto looked up and grinned when he saw Sasuke, "Hey! Look who it is!"
Sasuke nodded his head in acknowledgment, "I suppose it's nice to see you again, as well."
Naruto chuckled, "Well, your total comes up to $6.54," he said while taking a sip of his slushie.
While using his Visa to pay, Sasuke looked up near the computer, noticing a picture of the little boy he saw with Naruto.
"With the way you're dressed... and the type of car you were in the other night, I'd never expect you to go shopping in a place like this," Naruto commented while handing the raven his receipt
"I really don't have a choice, do I? There's not many places to choose from around here," taking the paper, he stuffed it into one of his pockets.
"That's true..." Naruto sighed as he slurped down the rest of his beverage, "damn... there's no way I can take another one without Ero-sannin noticing me..."
Sasuke eyed the empty cup in the blond's hand before tugging his only cash out of his wallet, setting it on the counter, "Are they good?" he asked with a slight smirk.
Looking at him suspiciously, Naruto nodded.
"I have about five dollars here, so I'd like to buy two cups," he smirked fully when he was handed two cups and another receipt. Walking over to the slushie machine, he poured cherry into one and coke into the other. Turning, he saw that Naruto was now dealing with another customer; an older gentleman. He placed the drinks onto the counter without the blond even noticing, then he walked off, hands in his pockets.
"Thank you, sir," Naruto bowed to that man as well, spotting something colorful in the corner of his eye. He made a sound mixed between a gasp and squeel when he saw the slushies, "H-he..." he grinned brightly, "What a charitable bastard!"
xXxXx
"Chichiue!" Silo jumped into his father's arms, "can we go see a movie?.!" he asked excitedly, clearly hyper, "Jack said Eragon was good! I wanna go see it!" he wiggled around in Naruto's arms.
Naruto laughed, "How about we go on Saturday? I have that day off."
Silo pouted, but nodded, "But Chichiue... can we at least go get something to eat? Today's lunch was really icky," he stuck his tongue out, "nasty chicken sandwhiches with broccoli."
Naruto scrunched his nose up, "Ew, that does sound gross. Oh! How about we go to Taco Bell? I'm in a challupa mood."
Silo nodded quickly, "Jack said I should try the nachos!"
The older male fixed Silo's messy bangs, "Who's this Jack kid? You seem to talk to him a lot."
The small raven blushed and pointed to a young brunnet playing bloody knuckles with another boy, his skin a light tan and his eyes a steel grey. Silo fidgeted with Naruto's shirt collar and he looked away.
Naruto blinked and made an 'o' with his mouth, "Y-You like him? I mean, like him, like him?"
Blushing more, Silo nodded his head, "A-are you mad that I... like another boy?"
"Not at all! 'Cause, ya know, Sai's gay," he ruffled his son's hair and smiled fondly, "I wouldn't even care if you decided to get a sex change."
Silo cocked his head to the side, "What's a sex change?"
"Eh... I'll explain that to you when you're older."
xXxXx
The Taco bell was pretty much empty, so that made an excited Silo even happier. He jumped around and laughed while Naruto ordered them some nachos and two challupas.
After the blond received his order, he sat down, calling Silo to sit down with him. The boy happily obliged and took his seat, his feet dangling a good three inches above the ground. He quickly began to chow down on the nachos, sauce from the meat smearing along his chin and lips.
"Slow down," Naruto laughed, "I don't think dear little Jack would like a messy boy like you."
Silo flushed and immediately wiped the sauce away.
Naruto smiled slightly, He's growing up so fast... But thank god he's gay and won't get some girl pregnant...
He sighed thankfully and took a bite of his challupa.