10Shojogurl: Ok. No reviews, but that's ok. I promise it will get better with time. You don't know what's going on in this little head of mine! Pleez review!
Disclaimer: I don't own any anime/manga/j-pop/j-rock, written about in this story. They all belong to their respective owners.
Chapter 2
The New Employee
A-chan sat at the counter waiting for a customer to come and check-out. B-kun was helping a customer with the catalog, explaining what was in it. A-chan examined her customers. There was a lot of diversity. There were white, Hispanic, black, women and men, boys and girls, ranging from ages seven, to about forty-something. She began to wonder deeper and deeper into her thoughts, mainly thinking of the morning's earlier events. A-chan remembered the feeling of his lips on her hand, it felt so right.
'Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait just a minute! It did not; it was totally and completely wrong, wrong, wrong, and, oh yeah! Wrong!' A-chan corrected her thoughts.
'If it was really as wrong as you say it was, then why didn't you pull away?' Someone in the back of her mind asked.
'Who the hell are you?'
'Your conscious. I have to make an appearance sometime in this story. Don't I?'
'Well, yeah, I guess so. Most manga's I've read have the main character battling with their conscious at one point or another. Why not now? Anyway. I didn't pull away because I was shocked.'
'That so?'
'Look now! Normally conciouses aren't smart asses!'
'Well, who do you think I take after? Shinobu of Love Hina?'
'Leave me alone.'
'But I'm supposed to make you realize something!'
'Just tell me what it is then and get this over with!'
'Sorry, can't do that.'
'Why not?'
'I don't even know.'
'Aren't you supposed to be all-knowing or something?'
'Nope! I'm as smart as my other half! Which is you.' A-chan sighed.
'And I suppose that was supposed to be insulting. Well obviously you don't know half as much as I do because I would've come up with a decent comeback.'
'Sorry to burst your bubble, but you may want to pay attention-'
'Pay attention to what? It's not like B-kun's gonna come up here and hear me thinking about him.'
"Hear me what?" A-chan looked up startled. "Like I said Hear you what? Did you say something about you thinking about me?"
"The only thought that crossed my mind about you, was how much percentage of the profit I have to give to you."
"Well, Fifty percent goes to inventory, that means twenty-five percent for both of us!"
"You're forgetting rent. We rent this space from the mall, I don't own it. So fifty percent inventory, Seven percent tax, three percent rent, Five percent to savings, twenty-five percent for me and ten for you! That sounds pretty good to me!"
"Of course it sounds good to you! You get a fourth of the money! Half goes to inventory, a tenth goes to bills, Five percent goes in the bank and I'm left with the rest, which isn't much!" He said irritably.
"You, B-kun, are my employee, and as an employee, are lower in status. Therefore it is only proper that I make more money than you. So, if I were you, I'd back down because I decide how much you make and whether or not you make anything out of this job." A-chan replied sternly.
"Um, excuse me?" A-chan looked over and saw the girl from the previous day. She examined her, an unconscious habit that was rather hard to break. The girl was wearing a pink skirt that came to her knees along with a white wife-beater type shirt. There was one thing that this girl could defiantly get props for: She had the largest knockers you would ever see on a girl that tiny.
"Did you bring them?" A-chan asked her.
"Yes! Here they are!" She said excitedly and handed the papers to her. A-chan smiled. She needed to find a decent wardrobe, but other than that she had and attractive personality.
"Thanks. I'll read them and tell you what I think, until then, would you mind bringing me the "Inu Yasha Movie: Love that Transcends Time" from the back?" Her eyes brightened.
"Who may I ask is this?" B-kun interrupted. Smiling his billion dollar smile.
"I'm Chelsea!"
"Ah! C-chan, the pleasure is all mine!" She giggled apparently unaware of B-kun's advances.
"B-kun, show her the ropes will you?" A-chan told him. As he passed her she whispered something in his ear. "Don't you try anything on that girl or she'll get your job and you'll be looking for another." B-kun gulped and A-chan smiled a smile of satisfaction.
She watched them walk into the back room and she sighed. 'Might as well start to read them.' She picked up the resume. All that she required on the resume was that they were of legal working age, passed all their classes and were decent people persons. C-chan matched all requirements. A-chan decided to read the essay next.
'I think I am a very good choice for this job because I am told I have a likeable personality and…" It went on to say a few other things, and, over all, it was a very nicely written essay. A-chan pulled out a pin from the drawer and picked out a character. She picked Tohru Honda off of Fruits Basket. Not long after A-chan finished the essay, C-chan came out with the DVD.
"Here's the DVD!" She said in her cheerful manner.
"Thank you, and here's your pin." A-chan said and handed the girl her employee tag. C-chan's eyes grew wide.
"Thank you so much! You won't regret it!" She said as she preceded to Glomp her and run off to the bathroom to fix her pin.
"She seems excited." B-kun said as he walked to the counter.
"Just a little." A-chan smiled while she twiddled her pen.
"Excuse me." Said a small voice. B-kun and A-chan looked to see a little girl about six standing at the counter.
"Well, hello. What can I do for you today?" A-chan asked the little girl.
"I was wondering if this was enough to get the Sailor Moon R Movie?" She said as she put a dollar and some coins on the table.
"I'm sorry, sweat heart. That's not quite enough." A-chan said. The little girl frowned. "Were you going to buy it for you? Or was it a present?"
"It was a present for my ane-chan. Her birthday's in a week and I still don't have enough money!" She was about to cry when a-chan said something to make her stop.
"Who is your Ane-chan's favorite Manga-ka?"
"Takeuchi Naoko." She said wiping her tears.
"Well, how about if I get you a Sailor Moon poster signed by Takeuchi Naoko-sama?" The little girl's eyes widened.
"Could you really?"
"I could do even more than that. I want you and your sister to come back in one week. I want you both to dress up as your favorite characters, okay?" she nodded.
"We can do that! We dressed up like them last Halloween!" She smiled brighter.
"Good. I want you to be here by seven, okay?" She nodded again.
"By the way, what's your name?" B-kun asked.
"I'm Allie."
"Nice to meet you Allie-chan. I'm A-chan, and this is B-kun. I'm the owner of this store. And he's the assistant manager." A-chan explained.
"AH! Uh!" They heard a crash in the back of the store.
"What the heck? What was that?" A-chan said as she slipped from her chair to go investigate. She opened the door and saw C-chan lying on the floor, miscellaneous objects scattered around her and a box on her head. She lifted the box up a little and worry crossed her face.
"Please don't fire me, A-chan! Please!" she squealed, grabbing her leg, begging her for her forgiveness.
"And that is C-chan. The new employee." A-chan said as she turned out of the room, C-chan still clinging and begging for her job. "Don't worry; you can keep your job!" A-chan whispered. Her eyes got bigger and she glomped A-chan.
"Can't…breathe!" A-chan struggled to get out. B-kun watched as A-chan turned purple in the face, and then tried to pry C-chan off of her. Allie-chan stood getting a little worried when A-chan began turning blue. She noticed the radio on the counter and decided to turn the music up just a little so that the customers wouldn't be alarmed when A-chan fainted. They would be too interested in the music to stop and wonder what was wrong with her. She climbed on the stool, carefully, so as not to trip over her dress. She turned the knob, but the music didn't get any louder instead, another song began playing. She saw another knob and turned it. Maybe that was the right one. Sure enough the music got louder.
"That's BoA's new song! Do the Motion!" C-chan immediately let go of A-chan and ran to the radio. A-chan fainted, but luckily B-kun caught her before she fell and hurt herself. C-chan began attempting to sing the right lyrics, but it only sounded like she was jabbering. Eventually the English verse came up and she sang it perfectly.
"Hey Boy, since I feel for you I can't get enough of Love. I just say that…Oh 'How I feel?'" She sang with Boa. She began jabbering again and Allie joined her. While they were "singing", B-kun took A-chan in the back and set her on the futon. The back of the store wasn't as fancy as the front. It was painted white and had shelves for the boxes of stock. Then it had a bathroom in the corner. The futon was only in the back for when they had breaks. They had a counter beside the futon that had a coffee machine and a mini fridge with a couple of drinks. There were two Borba waters, two sodas and a lunch box. The lunch box was A-chan's. She could be a bit of a health nut. She made sure she ate at least six servings of bread, three servings of Vegetables and fruits, two servings of Dairy and meat and she ate about one sweet a week.
'Damn, she has a strict diet.' B-kun thought. 'She has the same thing everyday. Toast for breakfast with milk, a banana, and cereal; a salad, a bologna sandwich, and a pear for lunch; carrots and dip for a snack and dinner was broccoli, ham, a role, and her 'dessert' was a piece of bread with strawberries on it. And then to complete her diet she ate a plain piece of bread for a midnight snack. And normally she drinks the two Borba waters throughout the day.' He watched her stir a little. She was sweating a little bit so he went to the counter and got a paper towel and wet it, then went to where she was sleeping and wiped her forehead.
'Wonder what she's dreaming about?' B-kun thought as she tossed and turned on the futon. He wiped her bangs out of her face and wet her forehead with the towel.
"Mmmm." She mumbled in her sleep. B-kun sat down beside her and moved her head onto his lap.
'She looks so pale.' He thought and felt her head. "She's burning up!" He was startled at how hot she was and wiped the sweat off her forehead again.
"Mmm. Mmm." She mumbled again. "Onee-chan. Onii-chan. don't leave. Okaa-chan. Onegai! Don't leave me!" By this time there wasn't only sweat, but tears also. B-kun washed the tears and sweat off of her face. Her eyes opened and she looked at him.
"B-kun? What happened? My head is killing me?" She said, sitting up, but quickly resumed her position. "My gut hurts."
"I don't know what went on when you fell asleep, but C-chan heard BoA playing on the radio and let you go. I caught you before you fell and took you back here. Your head was burning up, and you were sweating, so I was…wiping it…off of…your…forehead." He began stuttering and blushing. "What was that dream you were dreaming? You were calling out to someone." He asked when he stopped blubbering.
"It was just a memory." She said, sitting up despite her stomach.
"Well, it seemed pretty bad. Wanna talk about it?" He offered. She curled up into a ball at the other end of the couch.
"Not really. It was a long time ago." She told him. He scooted beside her.
"Just because it happened a long time ago, doesn't mean the pain has healed." He told her. She looked at him in a way, a very unusual way, that he'd never seen anyone look before.
"That's what my dad always said…Before he left." She told him. She looked at the wall. But it was in a way that was as if she was looking past the wall.
"Your dad left?" It was more of a statement than a question. She nodded.
"He left a few years ago. He traveled the world a lot, that's why I know so many Manga-ka. He was mainly in Japan. But then when I started coming here, in seventh grade, he left me with my grandparents. I haven't heard from him since. My mom left when I was three. She took my sister and my brother with her. She blamed all her problems on me. She was raped, and I was what came of it. But, despite the fact that I wasn't his child, he still treated me as if I were. My mom hated me. I was always a reminder of what had happened. She went to a therapist, and decided that I was what was keeping her from making any progress. So she tried to convince my dad to get rid of me, but he wouldn't. So my mom left me with my dad and took my brother and sister with her. My grandpa is the American ambassador to Japan and my grandma is with him most of the time, so I'm left at home a lot. My grandparents only agreed with my mom on one thing: that I should have been gotten rid of. They never liked me, much less loved me. They give me enough money to live on. And my Dad sends me spending money. I saved the money up since he started sending it. He only sends it twice a year. My birthday and Christmas. He doesn't even know me anymore. He makes a lot and sends me about a fourth of it. When I finally got enough to get this space, I took my chance. I made sure I had enough to pay expenses and have some left over just in case…" She continued on for a while and about a half hour later she finally finished her story. At this point B-kun had wrapped his arms around her in comfortingly and yet, protective way. She had, unconsciously, leaned into his well-toned chest. He rested his chin lightly on her head. He rocked her back and forth as she continued on. He saw a tear escape her eye and gently wiped it away.
"Don't cry. It's all in the past. And you have me to come to. And I'm sure C-chan will be glad to listen too." She smiled and hugged him.
"Thanks a lot, B-kun." She whispered softly into his chest.
Shojogurl: Well, another chapter done, no telling how many more to do. Oh well. Before I forget, there will be absolutely NO updates between 4/28-5/1 AT ALL! Pleez review!
Thanx!
See ya next chappie!
Shojogurl