InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Movie House Hanyou ❯ Out of Hell's Kitchen, Into Hell's Staff Meeting ( Chapter 6 )

A/N: Yes, I made the age gap that big for a reason. And like I said, Inuyasha is actually a lot older than the age he poses as. In this fic he looks maybe about 18 but has looked the same for xxx years (not telling you how old he is just yet, hehehe). I had the ages 17 and 28 picked out before I even started writing the first chapter. If this makes you nervous, just bear with me. I know what I'm doing, and a couple chapters from now I shall bestow you readers with some tidbits on Inuyasha's past *wink*

Let me make this known right here and now… Inuyasha is bisexual. Sango is a lesbian. Miroku is Inuyasha's best friend AND ex-boyfriend. Both guys have a preference for women but are only about 80% straight. Don't like it? Don't read it.



And now… on with the fic. Open minds are more than welcome, closed minds are not. I write the content within this fic for very specific reasons.

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It took all of the self-control he had practiced for centuries to keep himself calm despite his inner rage concerning the new addition to his ordeal. If he had been even half his actual age, he might have left the restaurant table partially in splinters from clawing it in discontent. However, he was more mature than most people gave him credit for, so he was able to keep things within himself for a long time until a more suitable outlet could be found for release of the pent up conflicting emotions.

He'd also taken acting classes over the years, so if he really wanted to, he could keep his cool even if deep inside there was nothing but turmoil churning and sloshing about. That, and working at a movie theater for close to eight years, half of them as a supervisor, had taught him the fine art of feigning cheerfulness when it came to customer service issues. Unless he was in a really bad mood, he could take on the worst customer and leave with that fake smile still stitched on his face and his heart rate comparable to one in relaxation.

As they walked down the sidewalk, Inuyasha pulled out his cell phone and looked at the time. Cursing under his breath, he turned and said to Kagome, "We got about eight minutes to get to the third floor of our building and clock in and be in the auditorium where the meeting will be. And trust me, we won't make it in time by walking." He did not look too happy. Why did she have to be 17? Why?! I can't let this become a repeat of before… he grumbled broodingly to himself.

Looking at him, she mentioned, "I can't run very long without getting winded." He glanced at her clothes, thankful that the light blue skirt she'd chosen to wear was very full, before getting down on one knee.

"Hop on," he said, instructing for her to ride on his back.

"You're going to carry me?" she questioned, unsure.

"Yes, what else does it look like, baka?" he answered with great annoyance showing on his face. "Arms around my neck and shoulders, and knees around my waist, ya got that?" His nostrils flared with the recurrence of his bitchy attitude.

After a little coercion he finally got her to climb on, cursing again about having just wasted another minute or so. With his forearms firmly clamping onto the lower section of her thighs, almost hooking his hands under her knees, and with her firmly gripping him for balance, he set off at a speed that reminded her much of the day they met.

When she tried looking to either side to escape being whipped in the face by his long hair, the streets and storefronts were nothing but a blur that made her dizzy from trying to discern what came in her line of vision. It was easier if she just kept her eyes shut and pressed her cheek into the back of his neck, she decided, especially since he kept jumping into the air at what seemed like random spots.

In actuality, though, he was leaping over lines of traffic like a child skating over tin cans.

"Damn, you're fast!" she cried out into where she thought his ear was, hidden beneath the locks on the side of his head, slightly nervous that they might get into an accident. "Won't this tire you out?"

"This is nothing, girl!" he called back to her after making another high leap, lightly massaging one of his clawed fingers along the underside of one of her thighs under her skirt to tease her. She could barely hear him, though, through the whistling sounds made from the wind going past her ears too quickly. She had no idea how close or far away they were from work by now.

"What about the intersections?!"

Rather than saying anything, he just leapt into the air and sprang over the lines of traffic that were going along Hennepin Ave in both directions and landed near the bus shelter in front of the entertainment complex that housed their workplace.

Coming to a complete stop with no problem despite the momentum she expected to pose as such, he carefully let her down. "I hopped right over them," he said with a smirk, "you just didn't notice."

"How-" she dizzily began before he cut her off.

"Seriously, don't ask. Let's just say I have exceptional running and jumping skills. Now, we've got three minutes, so let's hurry inside and upstairs."

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Naraku, at the very front of the floor level section of #12, watched as his newest employee and that supervisor she seemed to taking a liking to both entered and went up into the stadium section just in time, the supervisor sitting near the front and the girl sitting farther up near Mandy and Christonn. Three more employees had yet to arrive, but he would be more than happy to suspend or fire them, he thought happily.

After instructing all management, including supervisors, to sit in the front two rows of the stadium section and everyone else at least 2 more rows back, he and his First Assistant, Kagura, began the meeting.

"Hello again, my lovely employees," he drawled out in a friendly yet menacing tone, his smile giving some of the thinner-skinned employees a little bit of the creeps. "It's been six months since I took this position along with my assistant, and we are very happy to announce that some improvements have been made since we started. Unfortunately, there are not too many improvements, when compared to what still needs to be worked on."

He paused for a while, noting people's bored reactions. He caught sight of Inuyasha rolling his eyes at him but brushed it off.

"Due to the continued incompetence of this staff, I have postponed all yearly evaluations until further notice," he continued, oozing with anticipation for everyone's next reaction.

"What?!" someone randomly called out in outrage. Lots of mumbling and bitching could be heard among everyone else, annoyed looks on their faces. Naraku motioned for Kagura to read off her list.

The peevish thirtysomething stepped forward, the blood blister irises of her eyes boring into the floor staff employees' gazes, and opened a notebook, paging through it until she came to an earmarked page. She began, "Customer service is our priority, yet you can't seem to get that through your thick skulls. Lines are long, complaints are high in general, per capita is low, and we are the lowest ranking Pierce Theater when it comes to mystery shop scores. Not all of you are guilty, but many of you are, and so for that, we must punish all employees," in an official sounding voice. Lots of groaning and complaining was heard from the upper section.

She rattled off a number of specific tasks that were constantly being ignored when it came to the daily upkeep of the place. "There is too much spoilage, too many overpunches in the box office, the stock counts are inconsistently done properly, the warmers are not being cleaned properly… you're even using the wrong cleaning agents to clean things!" Kagura snapped, obviously pissed off.

"You do not, and I repeat, do NOT use SteelBright on any metal surface that will be touched by food. Hence, the hot dog rollers are not to be cleaned using that shit, understand, Clint?!" she yelled, clearly targeting one particular concession employee who sat in the back with some of the other black male employees. His only reaction was to laugh and smirk at her like he didn't give a shit.

Kagome winced at hearing his disturbing and annoying laugh. At least it's better than him actually saying anything, though, she thought. The Clint guy had the strangest Chicago accent she'd ever heard. It was what she had come to refer to as Ghetto Chicago, or Redneck Chicago, and it truly bothered her. Several other employees were from her old residence as well, but their accents were more normal sounding for that particular city. Hell, even Naraku sounded like he might have lived in Chicago for a while.

Going on after the interruption, Kagura continued. Her eyebrow was raised, and her lips pursed and tense. "The concession stand here would fail to satisfy even the most lenient health inspection officer. Anyone caught opening popcorn bags by sticking a hand inside them will be immediately suspended. Anyone using the wrong kinds of cleaner will be written up, as well as anyone handling both raw and cooked hot dogs with the same damn pair of tongs." She went on and on and on. Once she was done ridiculing the floor staff employees' lack of ability to do anything right, she handed things back over to Naraku.

Pacing back and forth in a tedious looking manner, he clearly explained to people what needed to be fixed, singling out particular employees whom he or others had caught in violation recently. Then he asked for the junior manager Allen Schultz, the same Allen whom Inuyasha considered a doormat, to step up to the front.

Putting him on display for a bout of humiliation, Naraku began. "Now, Allen here, he is as dumb… as a bucket of rocks." He smiled and laughed at the last three words.

Allen looked off to the side, embarrassed but trying to ignore it by faking a smile and an upward roll of the eyes. Not again, he inwardly groaned. Most of the employees followed the General Manager in laughter, a few exhibiting expressions of disapproval but remaining silent.

"Allen can't count for shit, he spends too much time chatting, he even allows his fat ass boyfriend-"

"My girlfriend is not a man!" Allen interrupted, trying to defend himself and laugh off the mockery.

"-to loiter while he's on the job…" Naraku trailed off before taking his hand and landing a full palm on the back of his inferior's head with a loud smack and a smirk on his face.

"Ow! What'd you do that for?" Allen clutched his head in his hands, wincing from the pain. Being half-black, he had short, curly, wiry hair, and so he didn't have much padding on the back of his head. He's not gonna go for the line again, please, no….

"Cuz you're a sexually confused, incompetent half-breed fuck-up who interrupts the General Manager when he's speaking, of course," Naraku answered, feeling very jovial. "Tell me, Allen, what are the seven steps of service?"

Allen sighed. This is going to be a long meeting, he thought to himself.

After being thoroughly and lengthily embarrassed and harassed in front of everyone for about the millionth time since Naraku had been working there, Allen was finally allowed to sit down. At these meetings, the General Manager liked to reiterate the general rules for continued employment. Unbeknownst to him, Inuyasha and Kagome mentally flinched at the mention of the rule concerning relationships between employees on different levels being forbidden. Then Naraku began his final announcements.

"First and foremost, I'm glad to announce that when X2 comes out, we will be holding midnight shows for it on Friday and Saturday night of opening weekend. In addition, when The Matrix: Reloaded comes out on May 15, a Thursday, might I add, we will start selling a special combo at the concession stand. It is the Matrix Combo. It is no different from a large pop and a large popcorn in volume or price, but we will use special bags and cups for these combos for ease in counting inventory. In addition, customers will get free refills on the combo items.

"There will be a running contest each week for who can sell the most combos. Totals will accumulate from Friday to Thursday, but the percentage of your total sales that is from selling combos will be taken into consideration as well. The winner will receive a prize that is at the moment undetermined but will most likely be a gift card to use at Border's downstairs.

"Concession employees are to greet customers with 'Welcome to Pierce Theaters, would you like to buy a Matrix Combo?' … and I mean every single motherfucking customer. You are to upsell and suggestive sell as long as it doesn't feel like overkill."

Naraku paused for a moment, as he was about to start on another topic. "Lastly, the floor staff needs to shape up. The management team is comprised of people whom I trust to act accordingly in my place. Hence, if your supervisor or manager of either level tells you to do something, you are expected to do it." He then called for everyone in some level of management to come forward and say something.

Most of the managers just had problems with floor staff taking the management seriously or felt like listing off specific things they wanted done correctly. Merle swore that if people continued their current flightiness at work that she would show them why she was called the Write-Up Queen. Zara simply told everyone that the maturity level of "certain employees" needed to go up, and that if things didn't improve, they would simply be replaced. Inuyasha went last.

"Listen, people, this is your job. There are going to be things about it that you dislike. There are plenty of things about this job I dislike, and I'm looking at some of them right now," he said with a smirk. Half the people ahead of him snickered. "Anyway, this isn't a difficult job. If you just do things correctly, improve your customer service skills, and show up on time and in proper uniform for work, there should be no problems.

"Where I come from, if there is a problem at all, it's a problem with the group, and it must be fixed. We don't fire people; we make them improve until there no longer is a problem. Naraku, however, doesn't think exactly like that. Naraku, am I correct in assuming that you'd rather just eliminate the problem should it prove unsolvable?" he asked, his arms crossed and his head turned to look at his superior, who answered in the affirmative.

"Thank you. Be careful, because even though you will likely receive additional chances at redemption from some of us here, others, such as Naraku and Kagura, would be more interested in simply replacing you. You have been forewarned, so get your shit together," was his final sentence before giving the spotlight back to the GM.

The last thing Naraku brought up before dismissing everyone was the Employee of the Quarter. This time it was Larry, one of the ushers. He would be receiving a $50 gift certificate to use at Circuit City.

"You are dismissed unless you open today," Kagura announced, waving her hand gracefully like a fan and motioning for everyone to exit the auditorium.

---

As they were walking out into the hallway, Kagome walked past Zara who was trying to talk to Inuyasha about something, but he noticed her presence.

"Zara, you can talk to me about stuff later," he quickly said to her before jumping to the side and turning around to go after Kagome. "Oi!"

She turned around to see him speeding up to her and grabbing her by the arm. "What?"

"We need to discuss a few things," he replied, trying to make sure no one suspected anything going on between them. If Naraku found out, he'd surely make their lives at work more of a hell than his already was at times. "Come with me." He motioned with his hand, a blank and neutral expression on his face, as he pulled her down the back hallway, where no one else was going towards. She kept silent, even when he pulled her past the red doors that led into Screen 4 and down to the front of the auditorium.

Once sure no one had noticed where they had gone, Inuyasha cornered her up against the wall and stared at her, trying to think of where to start.

"I want you promoted to supervisor and on a high comfort level with Naraku so you can be an insider on what really goes on in that office, Kagome," he finally spat out in a low voice, rubbing his hands on her shoulders nervously. "Christonn has been told to lie to the stock delivery guys, to say that our orders were short on items they really weren't, so we could get credit back. Tanaya, as much as I can't stand her, isn't being treated right as a minor… she's been forced to stay really late, past curfew. You saw how he treated the other Allen, and that's nowhere near half as bad as I've seen before. Naraku seems to enjoy making Zara cry. Cash disappears from registers at random. Things are…" he trailed off, looking in her eyes, "things are not right, and I need you to help me gather enough on them to put them away, get rid of them."

Kagome wasn't really sure what to say, so she just stared back at him, studying his body language. Despite the coolness during his little speech during the meeting, he seemed a bit more than wound up and agitated.

From the little window separating the auditorium from the projection booth came a light, and a slight, pale figure passed by, ignoring what was transpiring down at the bottom of the stadium section on the other side of the wall.

Not noticing the presence of another person nearby, Kagome and Inuyasha made a very meager amount of quiet small talk until he heard a light clicking sound, and the light of the slide projector beamed down from its hole to the left of the projection window down upon the screen, accompanied by a soft whirring that he knew only he could hear.

He froze, gripping her shoulders forcefully, staring peculiarly into space with wide eyes.

From beneath his bandana, Lefty made slight movement and turned toward the booth that was upstairs to the left and on the other side of the very back of the auditorium. He strained for any more sounds. Someone was in the projection booth.

Kagome noticed something move under his tightly bound bandana and focused her eyes. She brought her hand up to the side of his face, but he noticed and quickly snatched her by the wrist, gripping tightly, his expression quite peeved. He glared at her with narrowed eyes, and a low growl formed in the back of his throat, one slightly but not too overly threatening. He could tell it made her nervous, but really, that was the point.

"No one, and I mean no one, touches my hair without expressed permission, do you understand, kisama?" Inuyasha's nostrils flared in a huff.

The menacing glint in his eyes and the serious, murderous tone of his voice were more than enough to convince her that it was best not to argue about the silliness of the whole premise.

"G-gomen nasai, I just thought I saw somethi-" she rambled nervously before he cut her off.

"It's. Nothing. At. All," he ground out in a half-snarl before averting his gaze up to the projection window. He cocked his eyebrow. "Someone's in the booth."

They both cast their gaze up toward the little square of light in the back of the auditorium above the last row of seats. After watching for a moment or two, a female's face framed by a curtain of ivory blonde wig-like hair popped into sight within the dimensions of the window. She immediately looked at the two employees in the lower corner of the auditorium, recognizing one of them.

"Inuyasha, who is that?" Kagome felt quite apprehensive. She could almost feel her deep black eyes examining herself and her supervisor like they were intruders. She held her breath.

The girl in the booth met their gaze for a quick moment before she walked off, out of the viewfinder that allowed them sight beyond the wall.

"That, Kagome, is Kanna, one of our projectionists," he explained, relaxing his body a bit. "I'm not sure, but I think she actually lives in the projection booth. That woman gives me the creeps. She's also one of the few Japanese albino people you will ever come across."

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A/N: yes, there really are Japanese albinos, and no, they do not have pink or blue eyes, but dark brownish black ones. My best friend hosted a Japanese albino girl for a school year several years ago, and I thought she was a really cool person. And Japanese albinos have very light blonde, not white, hair. Weird, eh?

By the way, Inuyasha is going to be the only non-human in this fic; everyone who is normally a demon is just a human in this AU, even Naraku. Sessy may or may not appear as a present character. But Bankotsu, Jakotsu, Renkotsu, Yura, Kouga, maybe Ginta and Hakkaku, and of course Rin will be showing up, and Sango and Miroku will be introduced in chapter 7 or 8. Kikyou is in this only as a character of the past. You will find out the significance of her role later on.

Last minute note to drake220 and anyone else who may be wondering - Inu is a switch, and both he and Miroku prefer females but happen to like some guys. they're both probably, like 80% straight. and Sango is a very minor character, and she does like Miroku, but not the way she likes girls (hahaha) and she's gonna be pretty much vanilla.

Japanese vocab-
Oi! - hey!
Kisama - you (vulgar)
Gomen nasai - I'm sorry, forgive me, etc.