InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Movie House Hanyou ❯ Adding Oil to the Already Heated Kettle ( Chapter 3 )

Inuyasha and Kagome stared at each other for another moment, not speaking, until Naraku broke the silence. "Kagome, Inuyasha will be training you this evening. For the most part, you will be working in the concession stand. Be sure to do everything he tells you, and you'll get along just fine." He smiled, and neither employee found it a pleasant smile. "Oh, and Inuyasha?"

"What?!" a not too happy Inuyasha grumblingly snapped at his manager, a tic by his eyebrow. He was back to that bitchy attitude he'd had when he first ran into Kagome the day before.

"Be on your best behavior. I'll be watching you." Naraku winked and smirked before he walked off humming an odd tune, leaving the two employees behind in the hallway staring after him. Inuyasha snorted and rolled his eyes before motioning with his hand for Kagome to follow him, muttering obscenities directed at the General Manager under his breath.

He had just enough time to give her a mini-tour of the theater before her shift was scheduled to start, so he started with the break room. It was two doors farther down the hall, and he showed her the lockers, the time clock and the time cards, and the message board with the floor staff schedules and employee notices, making sure to point out the one indicating the staff meeting two weeks away on a Saturday morning at 9:00am in auditorium #12.

"You may want to use a lock if you're keeping personals or valuables in a locker here. I don't trust most of the people here, nor should you," he cautioned as she put her purse and light jacket into a blue locker somewhere near the bottom. "If you have a cell phone, you can wear it on the job, but only if you keep it on vibrate or silent."

"Well I don't have one; I just moved here less than a week ago," replied Kagome. Inuyasha ignored that comment and continued on.

"Also, the break room is not a changing room. If you need to change into or out of your uniform, do it in the restrooms. You can be written up or suspended for doing so," he went on boredly, pointing to another memo that had been put in place only 2 months earlier.

That's a little extreme, suspension, but I can understand the premise, she thought to herself as she followed him out of the break room and back into the hallway. He continued showing her around, explaining how the auditoria were arranged symmetrically in a strange semi-circular hallway that curved behind the concession stand on both sides completely. Even the auditorium sizes were symmetrical, the only one being completely unique being screen 8. Screens 5 and 11 were off by themselves at the end of branched off halls, while screens 6 through 10 were along the back hall they were currently passing through, a small set of restrooms nestled between 7 and 8.

"Those don't get used by customers that often cuz most people don't know, or care, that they exist. It's the ones in the front lobby that really need cleaning on a majorly frequent basis. Anyway," he paused and turned around in the middle of his explanation, "you need to change into your work shirt. Make sure it's tucked in. Also, take out your nose stud and 2 of your 4 earrings-"

Kagome looked at him in a scrutinizing manner. "Why do I have to take them out?" she protested. Some movie goers walking by turned their heads to pay attention to the two for a moment before continuing on down the hall to some far off auditorium.

He narrowed his eyes before speaking. "Number 1- because I'm your supervisor, and I said so. Number 2- while only women are allowed to wear earrings while on the job, they may not wear more than one earring per ear," he harshly explained while using outrageous gesticulations, glaring at her.

"Well you don't have to be rude to me about it! Geez! And what's wrong with my nose stud?" she huffed.

"In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not exactly stoked to have you as an employee, Kags-"

"Don't call me that! And you didn't answer my question!"

"No facial jewelry allowed, period. Why the hell else would you be seeing me without my lip rings? I can get away with this," he drawled on annoyedly as he opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue, pointing to it with a claw-tipped finger to draw attention to a clear plastic retainer with black spacers sticking up through the top of his tongue about an inch from the tip, though Kagome was more inclined to pay attention to his fang-like canines, "because it's easier to hide. Retainers for my lip rings are still visible, and Naraku won't let me wear 'em," he finished and closed his mouth again, having long drawn his tongue back in.

"I-Inuyasha," Kagome began, a questioning look on her face. "Can I ask you something?"

Inuyasha sighed. He knew this was coming. "It's these, right?" He pointed to his teeth.

"Well, that too."

His eyebrows went up with a snort. ""My eyes and hair?"

"Actually, I have several things to ask," she went on, but he quickly answered the two questions he already knew she had.

"My eyes are natural. My hair… you don't wanna know. As for these," he pointed again with a sneer, "I had them elongated, and it was not cheap," he explained with a sigh before beginning again in a bitchy tone. "What else you wanna know, huh? I really don't like getting asked this kind of crap all the goddamn time by every single-"

"Um." Kagome looked a bit frazzled at his reaction and clammed up. She didn't mean to get him so worked up. She brought her gaze down to her hands and started fidgeting with them.

"Hmm?" Inuyasha noticed her reaction to his outburst and tried to level things off. He motioned for her to go ahead, signaling that he wouldn't interrupt her this time.

"Uh… why did you get your tongue pierced, of all things?" she meekly asked.

Inuyasha took one look at her and opened his mouth to say something, closed it, and then started giggling, his entire body shaking in a fit of laughter. She looked so cute, naïve, and innocent asking that question it cracked him up. Confused at his reaction to her question, she looked up at him and watched him as he calmed himself down. People walking down the hallway were staring.

Finally he shook his head, a genuine, wholehearted smile on his face, and answered her in as calm a voice as he could. "You honestly don't know the one reason why most people get that pierced. Oh kami! Chotto baka da na." He leaned in closer, put one of his hands on her shoulder and the other under her chin, and spoke in a soft voice, mouthing the words slowly and deliberately, licking his lips afterward, "Oral sex."

The look on her face was absolutely priceless.

---

Okay, aside from his bluntness on certain things and the fact that he wasn't exactly all that polite at times, Kagome was somewhat enjoying working at the movie theater that evening. He'd shown her how to make popcorn and hot dogs, explained that each cash register had its own inventory that was counted separately at the end of the night, and detailed what types of upkeep needed to be done in between rushes, such as keeping the pop lids stocked, filling the napkin and straw dispensers, filling the ice bins and popcorn warmers, changing the boxes of pop syrup, and other such things.

Until she received a user ID and password, she was not to be assigned to a cash register. No one new ever used a cash register on the first day of work here, he told her. At the moment he had requested that she help him with getting things stocked and whatnot, during and in between rushes, and during rushes she would be a runner for registers 5, 6, and 7, helping the respective concession cashiers get their orders ready more quickly.

Inuyasha explained that it was a good way for her to observe how cashiers were to ring up customers, and that if he saw anything going on that wasn't right, he'd be sure to correct things as soon as possible so she wouldn't learn the wrong things by observing.

"Hey, get over here. We need to fill the seed bins with popcorn seed. They're getting low, and our busiest rush of the night is coming up," he called to her, leading the way into the back prep room behind the concession stand. On a large pallet in the corner near the refrigerator and freezer was a large pile of neatly stacked sacks of seed.

"We need one for each popper. You grab one, and I'll grab one," Inuyasha explained as he reached for one and easily hefted it under his arm with barely a strain. Kagome tried to do exactly the same but could barely lift it.

"Just how heavy are these things?!" she exclaimed with a funny sounding grunt. "I can't lift this!" She tugged on the bottom half of one, straining with her puny grip. He turned his head back to look at her, as he was already halfway to the door that led behind the concession stand, and smirked.

"Oh, about 50 pounds, I'd say. They're like feathers to me. C'mon, make yourself useful, little girl!" Man, it's just way too easy to get under her skin, he thought as he turned back and left her there struggling to lift the seed bag off the pallet, rejoicing in the thoroughly annoyed look on her face. I barely have to even try. I am going to really enjoy having her work here, he continued to muse with a mischievous smirk on his face.

Still in the back room, Kagome tugged at the lower end of the sack, but while she could drag it off the pallet and onto the ground, she couldn't lift it more than an inch off the ground, and only for a couple seconds. Maybe if I drag it, she thought in frustration. By the time she had it about three feet away, her supervisor was back and demanding that she hurry up.

Grumbling, she bitched at him, "Well maybe if I got some help here, I coulda had it out there by now! But no, you leave the 'weak-armed little girl' in the back all alone desperately trying to lift something obviously way too heavy for her to carry herself, and then you have the nerve to demand her to hurry up?!" Leaning against the side of the fridge with his arms crossed, he merely just watched her mouth off, a smug grin on his face.

Once she finished, he kept his grin and softly retorted, "First, that is no way to speak to your supervisor." She winced at that comment. "Second, I would have been more than happy to help had you asked for it." Her reaction would keep him thoroughly amused for some time, he was sure of it.

Huffing, Kagome cooled off and waited with closed eyes, inhaling deeply, until her voice was calm before trying to speak again. "Fine. Inuyasha, will you please help me lift this bag of popcorn seed?"

"Sure," he visibly happily replied with a smile and some bounce in his voice. With that, he grabbed the top of the bag and held it up in the air, hoisting it above her left shoulder, trying to position it well. "Okay, now listen, I'm gonna set it down slowly, and you need to grasp it around the middle and try to keep the weight of it balanced on both sides of your shoulder. It's the easiest way for someone with a solid frame but not so strong arm muscles to carry something like this," he explained as he helped her figure out how to carry it properly. Once he let go, she was able to walk slowly and hold it up properly without needing any help other than someone to hold the door open for her.

---

During the rush Kagome bagged popcorn, bagged and cooked hot dogs, filled pops, and assembled nacho trays for the designated coworkers. The entire lobby, at mid-rush, was filled with several hundred people in line for the concessions, and the lines would just not end. Only five registers were open, as they did not have a sixth cashier to place on register 2, but Inuyasha slowly realized with worry that the lines would desperately need to be trimmed, and soon. Lines are to be kept as short as possible, and they really needed it on a night like this. While he worked he watched Kagome rush to get her coworkers' orders done, barely knowing what she was doing but trying to do a good job of it nonetheless. He admired her work ethic, and he finally made a decision.

Leaving the concession stand and the thick smell of salted popcorn and cooked hot dogs, Inuyasha ran over to the GMO and pounded on the door, staring at the peephole until the tiny pinprick of light was shaded over, and someone opened the door.

"Naraku, I know you don't want new new employees on registers their first day, but we seriously have lines that aren't gonna disappear in the next 10 minutes without adding another till out there. C'mon, let me put her on a till under my user ID, man!" he pleaded in a very serious tone. "I swear, if she fucks up and the money count is off at the end of the night, I'll take all the responsibility!"

It took a lot of convincing, but Naraku finally went back into the office and subsequently into the cash room to bring out a $50 cash till and a tray insert, muttering some warnings as he handed them to the concession supervisor.

Back in the stand, he got the station set up with stock and the money confirmed to be exactly $50, no more and no less, and then he caught Kagome off-guard and pulled her over to the register, explaining that he needed her on a register after all.

"If you have any questions or problems and I'm not quickly available, just ask Tanaya, the short lil squirt next to you on number 3," he told her, pointing to his least favorite employee, the one whom he wished he could have slaughtered or beaten senseless long ago.

"Hey, I resent that, 'Yash!" she whined back at him, nearly flicking him off but barely restraining herself since she was busy with a customer, and it was starting to hold up the line.

"Piss off, spoiled brat, and concentrate on your fuckin' customers!" he spat back in a low voice in her ear so only she could hear him. Tanaya pouted and ignored him. "As for you," he returned to speaking to Kagome, "I'm expecting you to do the best damn job you can. I'm trusting you won't fail me." With that, a respectful head nod, and an odd, surprised look on Kagome's face, he took off to put more hot dogs onto the rollers and then dump the popcorn from the kettle that was beeping, leaving her with an open register and only a partial idea of what the hell she was supposed to do.

Oh well, she thought as she took a deep breath, I guess this is the real test, to see if I'm cut out for this job. Here goes nothing. "I can help someone right over here! Hi, welcome to Pierce Theaters, how may I help you?"

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A/N: man, I'm really churning out

Japanese vocab:
Kami - god
Chotto baka da na - you're just a titch stupid, ya know?