The Night Shift [open]

[Elena]

Sai was eighteen. This was significant because it was the reason why he was here, rather late, when the streets and the small store were barren of people, and his only other companion was sleeping in the back. When he glanced at the clock, he realized it was officially morning, how late it was. Though there was a creeping fatigue present, making his greying lids droop as he strolled along the aisles, occupying his time by turning labels forward, he would not mention it. That was just the type of guy Sai was. This shift was taxing, sure, but it worked into his schedule, and they said they needed him.

Whatever the reason they needed him was, he wasn't too sure, because there was nobody about at this time. Well then, if he was going to be all alone, there could be no harm.... Right? With a glance at the doors, Sai once again saw no one, and so he slipped away to a lane that held a magazine rack. He looked over the covers of girls and all the topics, and picked up one that caught his interest. Holding the only magazine that had a man on the front cover (coincidental, really) he leaned forward against the check out and flipped to the article.

“Five ways to figure out if you're just a replacement for someone else.

He makes you feel in ways you've never felt before. You want to believe that he feels the same way, and that everything is fine. There's only one problem... He won't stop talking about that other person. You feel as if you're being compared to another; that you're not really 'the one'... When he looks at you, does he see someone else? Are you a replacement for what he really wants?

+Ask him if he thinks you're special....

Special? Sai never considered that before. Naruto did talk about Sasuke a lot. He would often say “It's always 'Sasuke this' and 'Sasuke that'. but Sai found that a bit ironic. One day he counted how many times Naruto mentioned Sakura over Sasuke, and Sasuke won. What did it mean that he wasn't really 'the one'? The one friend? Sai wasn't Naruto's only friend, though Naruto could be considered Sai's 'one' because he was the only 'one' he would consider a best friend, if he had to choose. Much like Sakura was his 'one' female friend. Was Sakura 'the one' too? He read on, analyzing every sentence with scrutiny and confusion.

[¡El Bandito!]

Naruto liked weekends. Weekends meant that the blonde boy could fuck his circadian rhythm up all he wanted playing video games until the ass crack of dawn mooned everyone from over the horizon.

The problem with this plan, unfortunately, was that it was far harder to break his patterns of behavior than he expected. Waking up at oh-god-thirty to get ready for school, as much as he hated it, was a necessary evil, and it meant that he got tired in time to go to bed to wake up for said necessary evil.

However, there was something that Naruto could use to combat this: the sacred drug known to the masses as caffeine. Caffeine was Naruto's best friend, though he knew several people who would argue that the world would probably be better off if he never came within five feet of the substance ever again. What did they know?

What he knew was that there were three ways to easily imbibe this wondrous thing that would allow him to continue pwning teh noobs all night long, and that all could be easily obtained at the local grocery store where he just so happened to know a guy who was more than likely stuck on this shitty ass shift anyway. The first option was coffee, but unlike some of his friends Naruto held little interest for the bitter brown drink; he had been assured that it was something he would eventually acquire a taste for, but he didn't have one now and he was all for the notion of instant gratification at the moment. His second option was tea, the most traditional of the three choices he supposed, but he wasn't really feeling it at the moment.

No, what Naruto needed was some soda. Some nice, high caffeine, high sugar drink in some crazy bright color that didn't was definitely unnatural and vaguely toxic-looking.

Nevermind that it was midnight, Uzumaki Naruto needed some Mountain Dew.

He walked at a brisk pace down the street, hands clasped together in the front pocket of the orange hoodie he had grabbed from the floor and pulled over his head. Winter was coming, and walking around in the middle of the night was a good way to drill that fact into someone's head. His pace picked up as the bright store sign lights came into view; while normally the blonde would be easily distracted by the stray carts not placed back into their corrals and left haphazardly by customers around the parking lot, at the moment he was far more interested in just getting inside and out of the freezing air. After all, it was hard to play video games if your fingers had frozen off, thus rendering the entire journey worthless.

Naruto made a beeline for the soda aisle, deciding that he would look around and see if there was anyone he knew working as soon as he made sure that his entire trip hadn't just been made in vain. Perhaps he would pick up some snacks as well... Cheetos were sounding particularly amazing at the moment, but so were ice cream bars.

[Elle]

“I'll never let go,” Sakura sniffed from her spot on the couch, knees protectively tucked against her chest, cold tub of ice cream nestling inside the space of her thighs and stomach. Angrily dipping her spoon into the tub, the pinkette couldn't help but cry some more as Rose let go of her love's hand, watching as he sank to the black abyss of the Atlantic Ocean. Mentally, she was mourning over the loss of man meat from the screen because, uh, Leonardo DiCaprio anyone? He was mighty fine and she was positive that millions of other girls would agree with her.

Lifting her spoon to her mouth, Sakura's attention was momentarily diverted from the TV upon realizing that the spoon was devoid of any creamy, cold goodness. And this was not going to work at all. Letting out a scream, the pinkette stood up and tossed the empty container on her coffee table, tear track marks now drying. Oh, before she had been simply upset but now she was livid . Nothing got in Haruno Sakura's way of ice cream during a certain time of the month, even if it was being guarded by an ugly, scaly, delicious-treat-eating-dragon.

Trudging up the stairs in a rather loud manner, the pinkette slammed the door to her room shut and scurried around, quickly tying up her loose, rosette locks into a high ponytail. Half-hopping around her bed in an attempt not to face plant on the hardwood, Sakura shoved her feet into a pair of comfortable shoes and grabbed her jacket from out of the closet.

Rain or shine, high or low, it was pretty clear that Haruno Sakura would do just about anything for a Klondike bar.

The good thing about the night was that both of her parents were away, meaning that the pinkette didn't have to listen to any lectures about breaking curfew or whatever ridiculous rules they had laid down for her. Pausing at the door, Sakura debated if she should call Sai to pick her up, but instantly decided against it. Fastening the buttons of her coat, she briskly walked into the cool air and hustled down the street, wanting nothing more than to get her large tub of peppermint ice cream and be done with it.

And maybe some hot chocolate mix while she was at it. And then some pickles. Oh dear God she was beginning to sound like a fat, pregnant, overemotional woman.

Then again, she was experiencing the time in which woman were emotionally off their rocker. The idea of blood leaving her body almost made her want to turn back and snuggle under her covers, but she decided against it. She wanted her ice cream now , dammit, and she was going to have it, even if she was dressed in nothing but her pajamas and warm coat.

If Jack had survived the Titanic, Sakura would assume that he would be the kind, caring, doting husband who would go out in the middle of the night to buy his poor, hurting wife some goddamn ice cream. All Sakura got was a quiet house and her father, who apparently had the nerve to delve into her minty goodness the night before.

He was going to hear it later; no one touches Haruno Sakura's ice cream.

Storming into the grocery store like a cheetah on the prowl, the pinkette wasted no time fleeing to the freezers, until something caught her eye: the potato chips. “Well, it would be good to stock up....,” she tried to reason, her mind and taste-buds exclaiming how salsa would go perfectly with her selection. Besides, she needed other various junk foods to sustain her over the weekend. Sure, Sakura usually was a health nut, but when it came to that time of the month, she really didn't give a damn about being healthy when she had cramps that made her want to kick someone.

[Elena]

Sai was so into the article, his thoughts a mess, that the draft and the opening slide of the door did not register in his head. His thoughts were all 'Naruto, Naruto...' but when the very same person walked right by him, his steps not the lightest and creating a definite presence in the once silent, empty store, he glanced up and then glanced down.

Now how should he approach his friend? Email? In person? No, he had to evaluate eye contact and body language, so it had to be in person. How should he contact him, though? “Hello Naruto, I need to talk about 'us', can you see me sometime tomorrow? We can do ramen...” He mumbled to himself, practising. Should it be over the phone? Would that be to obvious?

Wait...

Wasn't that vaguely blonde person just...?

His eyes snapped up, but as soon as he saw the retreating back of his orange-wearing best friend a draft alerted him to yet another person walking in. Sakura...?

They both walked past him, heading in the same snack aisle without so much greeting him. He stared after them, and wondered what they would be doing so late at night. They weren't visiting him; or maybe they just didn't see? He closed the magazine and lifted himself up off the check-out, and as he walked past the rack returned it absently (it missed the rack completely and just fell to the floor, but it's the thought that counts).

Sai was in his uniform, so that would explain why he was here and he didn't need to announce his reasons, but he realized that he didn't need to ask them, either. Both his friends were looking at the unhealthy food items in earnest, enough that they didn't even notice each other. It gave him some condolence that he was not being snubbed. For Naruto, it was something one could almost expect. He was a rather bold, spontaneous person who was probably up playing video games and needed to get his energy from somewhere. He'd do something like drink the whole litre of soda and then piss into the bottle or something. Sai's mouth twitched, the only outward sign of his disgust. He hoped it was just a gross over-exaggeration; really, he did.

Sakura, however, he didn't find in her character to be consuming such snacks. Catching his curiosity, he gave a subtle greeting to both of them—the quiet “Good evening.” spoken softly enough to go unheard—but moved straight to stand beside Sakura. His eyes went from her, to where she was looking, and back to her again.

He'd have to remember this for when she was talking about healthy food again. “Are you sure you should be eating such fattening food?”

[¡El Bandito!]

Naruto was good at ignoring things. Especially subtle things, like hushed words and facial twitches. He was so good at ignoring them, in fact, that doubtlessly some people assumed that he just didn't notice them at all. And while this might be true some of the time, he liked to think that this was not always the case.

Because, after all, he was the reigning Captain Obvious.

So, of course, if anyone were to ask him later, of course he had seen Sai over by the magazines as he barged through the entrance, waving the (automatic) doors open with his hand like a jedi and charging towards the snack and soda aisle. He also noticed Sakura, his pink-haired crush, come in after him and head for the potato chips.

The double-take and surprised exclamation were both just parts of his extremely clever ruse.

Of course.

"Sai! Sakura-chan!" he greeted loudly, a grin crossing his face as he abandoned his quest for mountain dew temporarily and fell into the sort of circle formation that teenagers just naturally seemed to create while in groups. Considering the time of night there was a high liklihood that his two friends were rather tired and not at all up to the task of controlling the blonde's seemingly limitless amount of energy, but of course this energy was indeed finite, which was the whole reason he was here in the first place. Mountain Dew couldn't buy itself after all, and he needed far more than the paltry 20 oz bottles available in the vending machine by the apartment manager's office. No, he was talking liters and liters, which would be lined up like lambs to the slaughter on the side of the chair he would soon be returning to so he could go kill some more people over the internet in a virtual war simulation.

Weekends really were great.

But, neither Sai nor Sakura really seemed like the gamer type to him, so he was rather confused as to why they would be here in the middle of the night. Yet again, Naruto ignored the fact that Sai was in a uniform - the blonde boy knew better than to ask in which professions Sai found himself employed in. Sakura, too - usually she was good about getting to sleep early and getting lots of 'beauty rest' though really she hardly needed it...

"Why are you guys here?" he asked, looking from each of them and glancing occasionally at the shelves to look for the proper snacking accompaniment to his liquid caffeine shot. Perhaps if neither one of them had anything to do, they could hang out. He had been meaning to get Sakura to play this game, after all; he had a feeling she would be at least moderately good at inflicting major bodily harm to things, even if in this case the 'things' in question weren't real. And Sai, well, who knows? maybe the hand-eye co-ordination would be good for painting or drawing or something.

[Elle]

Scanning her green eyes over the different labels, Sakura stood there in deep thought, arms folded over her jacket. Yes, she was highly aware that she was standing in the middle of a grocery store, clad in nothing but her pajamas, which happened to have images of Strawberry Shortcake smiling a cherubic smile on them. Did she care? No, not really. At the moment, Sakura's brain was on two functions: food and irritable. So when innocent (but not really because he so had it coming because he was male and males represented her father, who had consumed her minty-treat.) Sai meandered over to her, commenting on her choice of fattening food, Sakura only reacted in the only way she knew possible.

She abruptly burst into tears.

“You're saying I'm fat! she wailed, stamping her foot in a fashion similar to a toddler, furiously wiping away the tears welling up at the sides of her eyes. “I am not fat! Is it too much to ask for just to come into a store because your father ate all your ice cream and now you have none while, at the same time, Jack is freezing to death because Rose couldn't make room on the chunk of wood and now they won't ever have beautiful children! She said that she'd never [/b] let go, but you know what, Sai? She did !” [/color]

Placing her face in her hands, Sakura sniffled a few times, half-listening as Naruto joined them, making the terrible trio. Still with her hands covering her face, the pinkette took a shaky breath and continued, “And so I just came here for more ice cream, and now I'm being called fat. Am I fat?” Slowly lifting her head from her hands, Sakura took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down, red-rimmed eyes scanning over Sai's uniform, before glancing at Naruto's orange hoodie with narrowed eyes. Suddenly, her tears came to a halt as she whirled, a ticked-off expression on her face.

“Naruto, I hope wore a better jacket to the store. It's cold outside! Do you want to catch a cold? Then she turned around, the same expression printed on her features as her eyes locked on Sai's uniform, “And you too! I hope you brought a jacket when you go home. Then again you drive a car, so you should be okay, but still! You both don't take into consideration how I worry about you two. Stupid, stupid boys.”

And those tears? Yeah, they were back at full force. Mentally, the logical sense of Sakura was smacking her silly for such an outburst of different emotions. To be completely honest, she couldn't help it; it was almost like her hormones had taken a firm grip on her mouth and spiraling range of emotions. She had just ranted about the Titanic for God's sake; there was something clearly wrong with her.

Inhaling deeply, the pinkette only stared at both Naruto and Sai for a few more, long moments, processing the fact that all three of them were in the same store at the awful hour that it was. Now she was plain confused. “What are you two doing here, anyways? And Sai, since when did you work here?” As many times as she went to this store, she had never seen her friend around. It seemed a little strange to her.

[Elena]

Sai was overwhelmed, that she misunderstood his comment, and that she cried because of it. Really, he had never seen her this way before, and it alarmed him. Who was Jack? What did her father have to do with this? Freud? Was she mistaking him for her father? Icecream... Someone was freezing on a wooden chunk. How terrible, and if someone close to her died then he could suppose the tears—but why was she at a convenience store in her pyjamas then? So many questions ran through his head, staring at her with wide eyes, that he couldn't really answer any of her questions. Instead, he pleaded with her.

“Please stop crying...”

He glanced over to Naruto, and waved his hands as if to say 'It wasn't me'. He'd tell him this, but Sakura wasn't giving them any room to respond. She didn't stop crying, but she had moments where she would pause and tell them off for things, Sai and Naruto both being guilty for whatever reason (he did have a jacket, by the way) and she would start crying even more. What was this?

Clearly she was unwell. There were something deeply, psychologically wrong with her and he could not figure it out. He didn't trust her not to cry again when she did stop. So he said what he felt in that moment where everything was overwhelming and all he really wanted to do was stuff her into a closet where he couldn't see or deal with such an emotional state. However, he could not do that, and he hoped he could at least comfort her.

“Can you stop crying? It is annoying...” These were not reasons for her to cry. Should he start talking to her about children in other parts of the world? They cried, and with far better reasons. Sai didn't cry, and he didn't recall Naruto spontaneously bursting into tears like this. What a fickle woman she was. The sooner she got over whatever this was, the better.

Remembering something that could comfort, he opened his arms, awkwardly, but inviting her in. “I'll hold you until you do.” Stop crying, that was. He should really be leaving this to Naruto, he realized, a little too late... He also had yet to realize he was making a difficult situation potentially worse.

[Nitro!]

Goddammit!

Twitching as he stared at the upturned mess that was his bedroom, Ryou pouted. He glanced desperately, almost despairingly, down into the very empty backpack in his shaky hands, then at the sloppy pile of books he'd taken home for the weekend. The books lay still, looking very innocent. The object he was searching for was not accounted for. He sighed in faint but distinct resignation, the question clear on his face as he looked helplessly at the ceiling: Why me?

He sighed again and grabbed the empty Mountain Dew can on his desk to be disposed of on his way out; he entered the kitchen, dropped it in the trash can as quietly as possible, and reached for his coat at the same time. He glanced at the clock and grimaced, glad that his mother was a very heavy sleeper. The middle of the night was generally not a time that Ryou was awake, let alone out, but the foreign amount of caffeine he'd consumed was keeping him very wide-awake.

It hadn't been a good idea to have that Mountain Dew, even if he did have to finish studying. To be fair, he hadn't realized the time until he caught sight of the clock on his bedroom wall, long after he'd already consumed the can (in under five minutes -- not shotgun speed, sure, but fast enough for the introduction of caffeine to be considered abrupt). After he'd finished studying, the effects had not worn off, and he'd proceeded to pack away all his school supplies in order to keep his school supplies together.

And then he discovered that he had no pencils to speak of.

Now, there was no real sense in going and buying pencils, of all things, at such an inconceivably late hour when he could just do it the next day, but Ryou was on a caffeine high. He had time to kill before he crashed and slept until noon the next day (like a normal teenager for once). Therefore, caffeine-fuzzed logic told him that going to the local 24-hour grocer was a good option to kill said time. Stab it dead, in fact, since he could do some grocery shopping while he was at it -- they were out of milk, after all, and it wouldn't hurt to stock up on various junk foods that he, personally, liked to stash around the house. Junk food was a good thing to have in those hours between getting home from school and dinner. Because teenagers eat one meal a day: they start in the morning, and then continue to consume food at alarming rates until they go to sleep -- not counting midnight snacks, of course.

It was a very cold five-minute walk to the store. He had been stupid and not thought to grab a pair of gloves, so even with his pockets, his hands were red with cold by the time he reached the doors. It took him a moment to get a grasp on the cold metal handle, and as soon as he had it open enough, he slipped into the warmth, gratefully rubbing his hands together.

He grabbed a shopping basket and started towards the general direction of the school supplies, a route deeply ingrained in his mind -- how could he not know where the pencils were when he was severely prone to losing them under mysterious circumstances? It required no thought by this point, and he was thinking more about whether or not to pick up more ice cream for his mother than about his route. (He did almost run into one woman who was twitching and looked sleep-deprived. He took a cautious step back and let her storm past. He was not ready to die at the hands of a half-insane woman tonight.)

With two small cardboard packs of brand new, traditional #2 pencils now in his bright red shopping basket, he wandered in the general direction of the milk, humming under his breath -- some tune that he didn't actually know, and didn't know where he picked it up from, but that sounded off-key even to his untrained ear. He tugged open one of the freezer doors as he found the milk, letting the half-gallon* lay on its side in the basket. His grip on the handles tightened as the basket lurched with unbalanced weight. Once it felt balanced, he turned and started making his way towards the junk food aisle, feeling very awkward and unbalanced. He raised his free hand to ruffle his spiky hair, glancing into aforementioned aisle before looking at the chip bags that lined the end.

He did a double-take that might have been comical. Further into the aisle were none other than his senpai and two people whom he couldn't remember the names of, though he certainly recognized them from school. They were in Sai's grade, he figured. Sai was in an odd position, arms spread wide, and the pink-haired girl wasn't facing him; he blinked stupidly at the scene, not sure what to make of it. He was reluctant to speak up, but then, walking away would be rude...

Hesitantly, he put a randomly selected bag of potato chips in his basket, then walked further into the aisle, feeling like he was walking into something he didn't want to be in (which, he was, as Takezo Ryou's worst fear was socializing). When he was about a solid eight feet away, he said softly, "Hello, Sai...you work here?" Totally ignoring the weird position his self-declared senpai had taken, of course.



[* I'm not familiar with the measurements for milk used in Japan and I don't really care to look it up right now, so please tolerate that. On another note, this post was over 900 words. o.o' Sorry. I babbled.

And yes, Ryou totally missed the crying episode.]

[¡El Bandito!]

The one thing Naruto couldn't ignore, however, was just how freaking crazy chicks were.

Seriously, if Sakura wasn't his best friend, he definitely wouldn't be putting up with this crap. As it was, he turned away from the snacks he was eyeing, wincing at her tumultuous screeching and bawling and motioning to open his arms up to her-- except someone else had beat him to it.

This whole Sai thing was really starting to piss him off. Sai knew he liked Sakura, so why didn't he just let Naruto take care of these kind of things? God, knowing his luck, Sakura would finally get over her crush on Sasuke, only to go after Sai instead, and still ignoring his pale blonde ass. Seriously, it was like fate or something.

Fortunately for Naruto, it sounded as though there was someone else in the store that recognized Sai, and since he now had other people to tand to and take care of, the Uzumaki gave him a not-so-playful shove. "Go take care of your friend, Sai, I got this," he muttered, opening his arms in turn to the emotionally-unstable pink-haired girl in front of him. Unlike Sai, Naruto was not so socially awkward that he didn't understand what was going on. Pajamas, volatile emotions, junk food... Titanic (the mother of all Movies for Emotional Females to watch) references? Oh yes. Naruto understood exactly what was going on.

He just wished that the 'that time of the month' excuse worked as well for his half as the species as it did for girls. Really. He knew (at least vaguely) that it was hormones and all that made them this way, but he couldn't help but have a sneaking suspicion that they were playing it up just because they could. Chicks were sneaky like that, and if they weren't actually on their period it was PMS or something or something else... it was ridiculous.

"Sakura-chan... it's all right," he said as reassuringly as he could, still holding his arms out to her. He'd just go on and hug her himself except he knew that if he did that he may well get a fist to the face. No, this had to be initiated by her or he would have to be reminded of this in some painful fashion, something he'd rather avoid tonight. After all, holding a controller was hard when one hand had an ice page pressed against his nose or cheek or lip... or eye...

As much as he hated to admit it or ever let on, Naruto was a bit of a sap as well. "You're not fat. Plus, you know they have a kid because they did it in the car and then Rose is on the ship with her granddaughter or great-granddaughter or whatever. So she had a baby to remember him by, y'know?" Yes, he had seen the movie. Perhaps more than once. That was entirely beside the point here.



[OOC: Liters, I would assume. Also, yes, it actually is a big grocery store X3]

[Elle]

“You actually know who I'm talking about?”

Naruto's respect level had just risen a couple of meters in Sakura's book. Staring up at the blond for a couple of seconds, she sniffed rather dramatically and turned, green eyes narrowed to slits as Sai's insult hit her ears. Annoying he said? Hand curling into a fist at her side, the pinkette was ready to punch the living daylights out of her oblivious friend, until the other boy walked into the conversation.

Jeez, was everyone deciding to come grocery shopping late at night?

Still, Sakura faced a rather large dilemma in front of her. She could let Sai hug her, but....Naruto was definitely being more understanding about the situation. However, hugging Naruto meant sacrificing her rather large pride. Then again, she was wearing Strawberry Shortcake pajamas in the middle of a grocery store; her pride was almost shot out of the window. Reluctantly she walked into the blond's arms, resting her tear-stained cheek against his obnoxiously orange hoodie. Shockingly, this action was enough to calm her down, if only for a second or two.

Perhaps it was Sakura who was the oblivious one, for she could not see the conflict between her two friends the moments prior. Brushing off these thoughts, Sakura gave one more dramatic sniff and took a shaky breath, “Yeah, but Rose got married to someone else! And you don't even know if that baby was Jack's or not. And...wait a moment,” Sakura pulled away from her orange-wearing best friend and quirked an eyebrow, tears having ceased now, “You've watched the Titanic before?”

Really, despite her sub-conscious telling her that she shouldn't be surprised, she really was. It was still rather humorous to picture Naruto of all people on a couch, watching one of the world's most sappiest movies. It would only get better if she could get him to recite some lines or something like that. Perhaps, should Ino or Hinata be unavailable, the pinkette would invite Naruto over to fill their void, and force her girly movies down his throat.

Choosing not to ignore the younger boy now standing around them, Sakura quickly wiped away the rest of her tears, small smile tilting at the corners of her mouth. It was almost frightening how easily her personality could do a complete one-eighty motion. “Sai, who is your friend? I don't think I've seen him around before....”

At first glance, the boy seemed harmless enough. But, if he was friends with Sai , Sakura had to guess that his temperament had to be a rather calm one. It was true that her inky-haired friend could easily worm his way underneath someone's skin, or press buttons just with that uneasy smile and snide remarks of his.

[Elena]

Now, now, what was this? Sai had been pushed out of the way, and something in Naruto's tone when he said 'friend' bore hostility, and he looked at Ryou-kun as if he had done something that might have offended him. Was Naruto feeling a little jealous? It was true, he had been spending more time with Sakura than Naruto lately, and now Sai had another friend too. With a thoughtful gaze between the (reluctantly) hugging pair and the newcomer, he gave himself a small nod. This very well could be Naruto getting angry with him for paying more attention to other friends. He had to affirm to Naruto somehow that despite being close to other people, he would still forever be that 'one'.

His pale hand rested ontop of Takezo's brown head, less of an older brother gesture and more like he was going to dunk his head under some imaginary water and drown him. “This insignificant person is Takezo Ryou. He's my cute kohai.” Sai introduced with a smile. “Of no consequence really—I would have missed him if he walked in, were he not so useful at times... In fact, Sakura-chan, you two could get along quite well.” They were both well mannered—his eyes suddenly widened. She may take that badly and start crying again, and then Naruto would only be further angry with him.

“Not that—you're a very useful person when you aren't crying helplessly in the middle of a grocery store...” Now that just sounded callous. The aura around Sai as very antagonizing thoughts filled his mind suggested he could very well snap and break poor Ryou just for being within close proximity. His faux smile twitched. “You're just not as useful as Naruto-kun, but as a woman of the weaker, more complicated sex you're quite the catch—for other people I mean, to me you're not—well, look at the time.” He didn't look anywhere, but took Ryou's chin between his thumb and curled forefinger, forcibly turning his head to look up at him.

“I have things to deal with at the moment... Why don't you help my emotional friends out and help them pick out what they are looking for?” That may have been phrased as a question, but it was more of a threat considering his smile said 'I will do unspeakable things to you if you disobey me at this moment'. “Be a good boy for me.” Which translated into: 'I am going to bail. Have fun.'

He slipped away, and his fist connected with the door of a fridge which his forehead rest against, glaring at the fogged glass in thought. That was stressful... He was over-thinking things again and whatever he had tried to do it hadn't helped. Here he thought the night shift wouldn't be difficult but then people started showing up.

Wait! He looked down the general direction he had escaped from. Naruto and Sakura were hugging. What if he hadn't read the mood again and he had messed up some intimate moment for them? It wouldn't be the first time; he recalled a feeding scene that had been compromised by his presence... He suddenly wanted to grab Ryou and let the two have whatever intimate moments they wanted, even the illegal kind. No—he was done. Let them complicated creatures do as they wished amongst each other. He was going to sit here, drink the tea he just stole from the fridge, and sit here on the floor until something so outrageous happened that he couldn't ignore it.

...He would pay for the drink later.

“Well, it is not like anyone else will show up.” He mused to himself, and sipped his cold, currently stolen, tea.

[yøsh]

For months, Kankuro begged for a new recruit...

Okay, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration.

Sabaku No Kankuro did not beg. He was like the Chuck Norris of Fresh Mart that way. He mentioned his desire for an underling, minion if you will, and they got him the new employee to please him.... It was just several months after the fact. Really, though, that was entirely besides the point in the brunette's opinion, and that was all that mattered.

And, for the first five minutes that he learned that they had a new employee, meaning that he was no longer bag bitch of the store (and no longer had to deal with the mystery spills that mysteriously appeared in the stupidest places, randomly). Hell, that meant that when he had to work night shifts, or rather most of his shifts due to his school schedule (not that he was really all that concerned with going to school; his family needed the money, he'd work when they wanted him to. It was just store policy or some bullshit that screwed him out of being full time employee with benefits, but that was really a rant for another day), he had time to actually get the stuff done that the morning and afternoon crew did not.... AKA, everything. Oh sure, the night manager had assigned him to 'train' the new employee, but it was definitely worth the extra trouble. After all, unless the new employee was brain dead, it wasn't like it would take long for him to learn the ropes. What was there to learn? Scan the items, hand out change, and don't tell the customers to fuck off no matter how annoying they are, or how many questions they ask in order to find the milk.

Then the five minutes passed and Kankuro found out the new recruit was Naruto's weird friend (the penis obsessed one; Naruto had lots of weird friends, it was important to specify which); Sai... That was Kankuro's first clue that this could potentially be a lot more difficult then originally thought. But, he no longer had to clean up the mystery spills that mysteriously appeared in the most random (and questionable) places.

Worth it.

And, it most certainly had been, Kankuro couldn't help but admit, as he bent the leg of another paper clip slipping it trough three more, then bending it back into place. It would have been a lot worse, especially considering his batting record and luck. But it wasn't, and he wasn't about to look a figurative gift horse in his figurative mouth (again, especially with his luck). Picking out another paperclip from the box he had liberated from the back office when the supervisor went on his break (which, an hour later, he was still on), the brunette was almost content to continue working on his impromptu chain mail till closing--at least he had something that he could do rather then stare at the near empty store-- but a sudden loud commotion of unmistakable feminine fury (a suspicion later confirmed as he made out the faint and angry words involving jack and letting go; the only non chick he knew that openly quoted Titanic was Naruto, but he was a special case). Abandoning his post with out a qualm, Kankuro shoved his hands into the pockets, peaking down the aisles.

The group wasn't hard to find, but then again it wasn't like they were exactly hiding, either. Strolling up to them, Kankuro drawled out "I hate to quote skanks but the party don't start till I walk in. Naruto, I blame you for this."

[¡El Bandito!]

Naruto liked hugs.

He especially liked hugs from pretty girls. And especially especially from Sakura. If his like was one of those circley-chart-things, Sakura would be a little pink circle in the middle of the chart of all the people he liked getting hugs from.

Maybe when she wasn't on the verge of a hormone-induced breakdown, he'd ask her what the name of that thing actually was.

"But she tells him that 'she'll never let go' and while she lets him sink, she still has the memories of everything that happened. The movie never says if she remarried or not, you know..."

So, he might be a bit of a sap when it came to romance movies. There was no law against it, was there? As long as the story was good and it wasn't shamelessly girl-oriented, about buying shoes and makeup... But still, this wasn't information he really wanted traveling around the entire student body of their high school; and he wouldn't be surprised if the rest of it decided to show up considering how many people were already here. "Shhh. I might have been forced to sit through it... once or twice," he lied. Even Sakura didn't need to know about this guilty pleasure; as much as he trusted her, there was always the chance she would let something slip to Ino or someone else and then his whole cover was blown.

He held his arms around her loosely, giving her support without being too clingy and ready to let her go as soon as it was clear the hug was over. The last thing the Uzumaki wanted was the wrath of a hormonal Sakura calling him a pervert when for once he was honestly just trying to be nice. Sai, on the other hand... The blonde couldn't help but cringe with every word that came out of his mouth. Really, all those books that kid had read, and he still didn't know how to deal with these sorts of situations? Jeez.

Naruto scowled after the raven-haired male as he made his hasty retread away from the aisle - great. Now the rightful target of the pink-haired girl's ire was gone, and he was going to be the one to take the brunt of the abuse... again. Seriously, the hell was with that?

Though, it seemed as though almost as soon as Sai disappeared, he was replaced by the person he had originally intended to seek out at the store to begin with, a certain Sabakuno Kankuro. "Hey, man, I'm not the one quoting Kesha when I walk into rooms... though I might have to start now," he added as an afterthought.

[Elle]

Sakura was almost tempted to scoff at Naruto’s knowledge of one of the most esteemed chick-flicks of all time. Somehow, inwardly, the pinkette wasn’t as surprised as she should have been. Her prior tears had finally been dried up, and her mood more calmed. “Oh? So is that what you, Kiba, and Kankuro do when the three of you have your ‘manly sleepovers’? I should have known.” Even though Naruto’s embrace was rather warm and, overall, comforting , Sakura still pulled away, shifting uncomfortably from foot-to-foot. She almost voiced a sound of protest as Sai waltzed off somewhere to do God-only-knows-what, leaving the two of them after a awkward hug.

Clearing her throat to ease the tension that she was feeling, the pink-haired girl offered a tiny smile and a tip to her head, “Uh, thanks for calming me down a bit. Also, if you tell anyone about this, you will regret it. Got it?” Mentally, she made a note to threaten Sai when she saw him again; if any words about her attire and attitude slipped out at school, Sakura was sure she would be thoroughly mortified, even more so if Ino was to get hold of the information.

For being her best friend, the blonde was definitely something of a gossip queen.

As Sakura was about to open her mouth again, another figure sauntered over, and she wanted to face palm right then and there. Of course one of Naruto’s friends would work here; she must have forgotten in her ranting and rushing. Pulling her coat closer to her body, she snorted as the two of them discussed Kesha, of all people. “I don’t know if I should be rolling my eyes at you two because you two are lame enough to quote a song or because you two actually know the song. Is it on your iPods?”

It wouldn’t be shocking; not after Naruto’s confession of seeing the Titanic, at least.

[Nitro!]

Ryou was thoroughly lost.

Rightfully so, he figured. It wasn't the discussion of a rather girly movie that was causing this -- no, Ryou had seen the Titanic more than once, watching it with his mother when she felt so inclined and had mood-swings frighteningly similar to the ones that this pink-haired girl seemed to be going through. He shuddered slightly and took a subconscious step back. His mother could be very, very scary during That Time of the Month.

Fortunately, the blond boy actually was doing a good job of soothing the savage beast poor, nice-looking girl. She sniffed and then asked Sai who he was, and Ryou felt a light pressure on the top of his head, somewhat similar to the way Junpei would do when was teasing his little brother. The freshman glanced at Sai warily. His senpai didn't seem like the type to show affection -- in fact, it reminded him more of a possessive gesture, like a dog marking its territory.

He grimaced inwardly. Beautiful imagery.

Nevertheless, Sai offered the freshman’s name and a brief (and somewhat inaccurate, Ryou liked to think) description of him. I think I should be offended, he thought, shifting in discomfort, but didn’t say anything anyway. Sai proceeded to bumble over his words in ways that might have gotten his face bashed in. He blinked. Talk about socially awkward...

And then his senpai proceeded to treat him more like a dog than a kohai and bailed on him. Thanks, Sai. Thanks so much. Such a kind, caring senpai...

Then another guy entered the scene, one that he, unfortunately, recognized. The bathroom-smoker-guy...whose name he’d either forgotten or never learned in the first place...whatever. What a great night. Maybe he would just take the opportunity and slip away...after all, none of them were paying attention, and he was so insignificant, it seemed, they would probably forget he'd even been there and he could quietly continue his life and pretend this never happened.

...or he could not, because Sai would not forget that he'd been there, and Sai had commanded him to...do something. Ryou wasn't sure what, but it was a commanding tone, and if Sai did decide to ask about it later, he wasn't going to just tell him he went home. Besides, Sai would probably see him leaving.

The mystery smoker made a snide comment that sounded vaguely familiar, and the blond -- ...Naruto, was it? -- said something about someone named Kesha. The pinkette made a comment that seemed to imply this Kesha person was a singer.

”Um...” He looked over the mystery smoker again, and his mind finally registered the teenager's choice of clothing. Incredulous, he stared. "You work here?"




[Eghad. It sucks. Sorry. :(]