Chapter Five
Several days had passed and the repairs to the Pekara House started without any incident. After all, Sasuke, Akira, and Kenta would not try to invoke the wrath of their new landlords and decided to make the best of it.
Unfortunately, that was not the case.
The chores that Keitaro had done with experienced ease were hard on Sasuke, who led a mostly sheltered life before moving to the Pekara House. Akira, however, with his body toned from his kendo training, saw it only as a challenge.
At Kenzo's teahouse, Kenta was forbidden to drink while he was on the job. And knowing full well of Kenzo's wrath (which he unleashed upon Sakura whenever she called him big brother or if Ino had slacked off her job), Kenta was forced to sober up.
Kurama, Riku, and Alex had no problems with Tifa and Cloud. If anything, Riku was grateful for the extra help from Kurama and Alex. Tifa and Cloud had to only mildly chastise Kurama once concerning his mad experiments which put the dorm in danger, not to mention his 'greeting dropkicks', which also caused damage to the dorm. After that, Kurama promised (in exchange for a crate of oranges from Canada) not to cause any damage to the dorm while Tifa and Cloud worked on the repairs.
Of course, to Sasuke, Akira, and Kenta, it had appeared to them that the once easy-going dormitory had fallen under a virtual dictatorship, with Tifa and Cloud having absolute authority.
Tifa and Cloud worked out an effective system for the chores. Every other day, Sasuke and Akira were to clean the dorm, while Kenta worked nine-hour shifts at Kenzo's teahouse Monday through Friday and a five-hour shift on Saturdays. Tifa and Cloud worked on the dorm repairs while Sasuke and Akira were at school and Kenta was at Kenzo's cafe. Upon arriving at the dorm, they were to do their chores before anything else.
This was more than Sasuke, Akira, and Kenta could stand. Kenta, being the fox of the Pekara House, decided to use his masculinity to try and convince Tifa into not letting him work for Kenzo.
Kenta found Tifa in her room. Cloud was still in the hot springs. Wearing only pajama pants, Kenta entered the landlord's room.
Tifa was wearing an oversized dress shirt that was slightly opened, revealing her chest, and several pieces of lingerie underneath. She turned around and found Kenta inside. "What is it?" she asked.
Kenta sauntered over to her. "Well, I wanted to talk to you about the…arrangement with Kenzo," he replied. "Cloud won't listen to reason, but you seem like a reasonable woman and sexy too," he added, staring at her bust. "Why don't you come to my room and we can discuss this over some rice wine, yes?"
He was surprised to see that, unlike Sakura, Tifa wasn't the least bit affected by his advances. "I don't think that you're my type, Kenta. And I am a very happily married woman."
Kenta was even closer now. "What does your husband have that I don't, huh? Besides having a six-pack?"
"One thing is that he is extremely jealous if he sees someone flirting with me," Tifa replied, "and I am just about the same with him."
"He doesn't have to know what goes on between us," Kenta rasped.
"I think he does," Tifa replied matter-of-factly. "In fact, he's right behind you."
Kenta's eyes became completely open after that statement. Tifa slowly moved from Kenta as the fox turned around and found herself looking at a very furious Cloud. The American man, having completed his bath, was dressed in black pajamas, and had basically seen Kenta's attempt at seducing Tifa, and was currently cracking his knuckles, preparing to deal out some serious pain to the scoundrel.
"If you ever go near my wife again," Cloud warned in a low voice, "I will kick your ass to high heaven and throw you out in the streets, and it won't be in that order."
"Sorry," Kenta squeaked out before running past Cloud.
Tifa looked at the scene with an amused expression as Kenta retreated to the safety of his room.
Meanwhile, Sasuke and Akira were watching the scene from the former's room. Pulling the wooden board back wide enough to see the exchange, they were shocked to see that aside from the fact that Tifa wasn't the least bit interested in Kenta, but the fact that Cloud had walked in and was pretty close to maiming the offending fox.
Sasuke, as quietly as he could, slid the board back over the hole. "So much for Kenta," he said. "What's wrong, Akira?"
"I could sense Cloud's ki," Akira replied. "It was filled with so much rage and anger."
"What did you expect?" Sasuke shot back. "Kenta did try and flirt with Tifa."
Minutes later, Kenta entered Sasuke's room, having calmed down from his confrontation with the male landlord.
"I thought Cloud was going to attack you," Akira said. "If he had done that, then you couldn't possibly survive."
Kenta huffed at that. "So Tifa has a jealous husband. On top of that, he knows his way around the law. What gets me is that Tifa didn't react the way Sakura does when I scam her. These two are going to be a problem, and I don't know if I can handle working for Kenzo any longer."
"We need Sakura back," Sasuke said. "But how do we get her to come back?"
At that moment, Kenta flashed a foxy grin. "I got an idea. I call this one Operation Strikeout."
In order to get Sakura back as the landlord, they planned to undermine Tifa and Cloud's authority. The three planned to go on strike.
The next morning, after breakfast, instead of doing their chores, Sasuke, Akira, and Kenta, instead of going down to Kenzo's cafe, left the dorm, heading for Okayama.
Cloud appeared. "Where are you three going?" he asked. "All of you have work to do."
Kenta turned to face the interim landlord. "We've decided that enough is enough. You worked us like slaves for the past three days and we have had it. We want Sakura back and we won't do a lick of work unless you and Tifa resign and bring Sakura back." He gave the American man a smug grin. "We'll see how far you can get, Mister Landlord."
With that, the three residents left, leaving a slightly fuming Cloud behind. "What's wrong?" Tifa asked as she appeared from the dining room.
Cloud's expression changed from anger to that of a smirk. "So that's how they want to play, huh?" he said. He turned to Tifa. "Looks like the older boys don't like how we run the dorm, so they went on strike. I made a plan for them."
He walked over to the phone and dialed Kenzo's cafe. After several moments, Cloud told Tifa of his plan and Tifa had to agree.
It was evil and devious, even for Cloud, but it had to be done.
It was nighttime when Akira, Sasuke, and Kenta had returned from Okayama. As they approached the Pekara House, they felt that something was wrong. Upon entering the building, they found the lobby area.
It was when each of them returned to their rooms that they found that their doors were barricaded with several wooden boards, barring them from entering their rooms. Almost immediately, the three boys searched for the landlords. They were in the dining room as if they were waiting for them.
"Why can't we get into our rooms?" Sasuke demanded as the two older adults sipped their tea. "You have no right in doing that!"
Tifa gave them a small smile. "As a matter of fact, we both do, Uchiha. Do you think that pulling this little stunt makes you better than us? I don't think so."
"As a matter of fact," Tifa continued, "since you three feel as if you are an exception to the rules by not wanting to help out with maintaining the Pekara House, you don't deserve to live here."
"WHAT?!" the three girls screeched.
"As of this moment," Tifa decreed," the three of you are trespassing on private property. Until you come to your senses, you are banned from the Pekara House." She tossed them two camping backpacks. "Now get out."
"You're bluffing," Sasuke. "You don't have the guts to throw us now."
He would find out just how wrong he was.
The door to the Pekara House was abruptly slid open. First Akira, then Kenta, who were held by their necks by Tifa, and lastly, Sasuke being manhandled by Cloud, were tossed out of the house like yesterday's garbage, with the two backpacks being the last thing to be tossed out before the door slammed in their faces.
After a few moments, the realization had set in for the three boys. The unthinkable has happened. Aside from being thrown out, Kenta's plan had backfired in the most extreme way.
Unfortunately for Akira, his sword was still inside. He considered going back for it, but after witnessing the combined strength of Tifa and Cloud, that would be an unwise move. Even worse for Kenta, he couldn't get to his rice wine stash.
Sasuke was livid. He charged for the front door, but Akira and Kenta held him back. "This is not a battle we cannot win, Sasuke," Akira said. He looked at the sky, where storm clouds were forming. "There is a storm coming. We need to get out of the open before the rain comes."
They decided to head over to Kenzo's teahouse. Maybe Kenzo would allow them to stay with him until this whole thing blows over.
Unfortunately, they were wrong.
It was closing time when the boys attempted to enter Kenzo's teahouse, but Kenzo had stepped into their path, barring them from entering. "So what happened today, Kenta?" he asked, glaring at the oldest girl. "Why didn't you show up for work?"
Kenta backed away from Kenzo's glare.
"We need a place to stay," Akira said. "Tifa and Cloud had forbidden us to enter the Pekara House."
"Why?" Kenzo asked.
Sasuke thought of lying to Kenzo but decided against it. "We went on strike in order to get Tifa and Cloud to bring Sakura back," he confessed, "and they threw us out."
"And what makes you think that I'm going to let you three in? You three made your bed. Now lie in it." With that, Kenzo slammed the door in their faces, effectively ending their conversation.
To make matters worse, it had already rained earlier, and as they walked along the sidewalk, a speeding truck sped by, splashing them with water as they passed a puddle, drenching them completely.
Somewhere in the back of Kenta's mind, he wondered if this was a bad idea in trying to test their landlords.
The boys found themselves at the park where Sakura had made her promise when she was a little girl. Storm clouds were gathering and the wind was starting to pick up. Sasuke, Akira, and Kenta hastily used the camping packs to build two tents. Unfortunately, one of the tents was done wrong, forcing the three to share a tent, which only had room for two.
Back in the Pekara House, the storm was starting to pick up as Tifa, Cloud, and the other Pekara House Residents, along with Sakura sat down for dinner. Through Sakura, who was present at Kenzo's cafe when her brother refused the boys' entry, told Kazuya and the others about what had happened, which explained why Kurama's latest invention had done the work that Akira and Sasuke were supposed to do.
"I hope they are all right," Riku said as he set the last plate down and took his seat.
"As long as they follow the instructions on how to build a tent," Tifa replied, "they will be fine."
"Oh, you mean these instructions?" Cloud asked innocently, holding two folded pamphlets in her hands. "I took them out after we bought those camping packs. I want those three to suffer for this offense. I want them to come crawling back here after this is through."
"That's mean!" Riku said, "but considering how they treated Senpai after all she has done for us, they deserve it."
The night in the park was hell for Sasuke, Akira, and Kenta. Worse yet, the tent had torn open and the boys were drenched to the bone. Neither had any money since they had spent it all during their trip to Okayama.
If Sakura had seen the hell that Cloud and Tifa had put them through, she would have most likely been grinning from ear to ear.
The old saying was indeed true: revenge is a dish best served cold.
And unbeknownst to the boys, this was just merely the beginning.
The next day, Sasuke, Kenta, and Akira, hungry and exhausted from their night out, with their clothes muddy as well as their faces, dragged what was left of the camping bags up the stairway. Apparently, hunger, being cold and a severe lack of money had pushed them past their breaking point. Swallowing their pride, they decided to return to the Pekara House to beg for forgiveness from their landlords.
Upon reaching the summit, they found Kenzo, Tifa, and Cloud waiting for them, since Kezo was visiting the dorm and Sakura had phoned him when she saw the boys head for the stairway. Deep down, she was jumping for joy. She did the right thing in hiring those two as the landlords.
"Do you three have anything to say for yourselves?" Kenzo asked in his monotone voice.
"We…we give up," Sasuke mumbled. "Please…let us back in."
"Do you three promise that you will follow the rules and perform your chores from now on?" Tifa asked, with her arms folded.
They all nodded.
"One more thing and we will let you go?" Cloud said. "Whose idea was it to go on strike?"
The three adults knew that it was Kenta's idea, but decided to see if they were really sincere about them coming back to the dorm.
Kenta limped forward. "It was me."
"At least all that rice wine that you drink didn't affect your brain," Kenzo spat out.
"However, you three will be punished for this stunt," Tifa said. "Uchiha and Yukinori, since young Hashimoto, Tomiya, and Wilson have volunteered to complete your chores which you failed to do yesterday, your workload is doubled for one week." She turned to Kenta. "And as for you, Amano, you are forbidden to consume alcohol on the property. You will also work a double shift for one week at Kenzo's teahouse, and we have confiscated all of your rice wine bottles, including the ones hidden in your room. If we see you with any kind of liquor on the premises, you will be evicted from this dorm and banned for life. Is that clear?"
Neither girl was in the mood to argue. It was either accept these terms or face permanent expulsion from the dorm. They nodded in the affirmative.
The three adults moved to the side. "Get yourselves cleaned up. Your three have the day off to rest," Cloud said. "Because you're going to need it tomorrow."
Without a single word, Sasuke, Kenta, and Akira shambled inside. Even though they were happy that they were allowed back into the dorm, it was bittersweet, since the two landlords had clearly gained the upper hand on them.