InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Movie House Hanyou ❯ Favorite Employee ( Chapter 10 )

The remainder of that night was a bit better. The bump on her head had lessened in pain, but she was still a bit embarrassed over having looked like a klutz when she had slipped and fallen. The managers let her leave early since she had school the next day, as well as Tanaya, but the rest of the staff had to remain and not only work through the midnight show but also do all of the cleanup without those two. All she had to do before leaving was tidy up the prep room behind the stand.

Once she had walked home across the bridge spanning the river, she went downstairs to her room and collapsed with exhaustion onto her bed. With a sigh, she decided to sleep in her work clothes.

"Way too tired, from standing… and my feet hurt," she mumbled to herself. And, unfortunately for her, she was scheduled to work the next three evenings as well. There were only a couple things about work she was looking forward to: seeing Inuyasha, and working towards selling the Matrix Combos. Selling those almost gave her a buzz. Having a long line of customers and getting nearly half of them to buy the damn thing made her feel proud and accomplished. During rushes she actually felt an adrenaline rush and always scrambled to get her customers' orders as quickly as possible. It was like she was high on caffeine when she worked a concessions register.

Then she finally drifted off to sleep, trying to ignore the headache that throbbed but refusing to move from her bed to go get some Advil.

---

Up in the booth Kanna did extensive cataloguing in the TIMSBoot database. There was an entire lists of stats she was to change. They had received more stock around 3pm that day, and a few… adjustments… had to be made to reflect the difference between what had been ordered and what they confirmed had arrived, and Naraku needed proper documentation of the discrepancies so that he could receive supply credit back. Even though there were no discrepancies present in actuality.

After finally finishing the updates and printing the documents he needed for the weekly paperwork, she printed out the new reports and assembled them together in a short pile before she exited the Stock Control window on her screen.

She yawned; it was getting late, and she had pulled a double shift in the booth. Time to get to bed, once she brought the paperwork down to Naraku in the GMO.

---

The weekend was all a big blur to Kagome. It was the same masses each day, and the same pleasures and pains, the same joys and the same cranky customers. She could barely believe it was already Sunday evening. Only one night of this mess left before she had four glorious days off.

With a sigh of relief, she thanked her customer and greeted the next, gaining another Matrix Combo sucker.

During the last few weeks, she had been thinking about her conversation with Inuyasha at Border's. He'd made all sorts of claims about things not being "right," as he put it, and even said she'd see examples of what he was talking about at the staff meeting.

However, personally, it ended up according to her observations that it was more just the floor staff that had problems. There were a few hard workers, but so many of her coworkers seemed to take their jobs too lightly. Sometimes she felt like screaming at them, "Where the hell is your work ethic?! You're getting paid for this, but that doesn't mean you can slack off!" … but really, would it do any good for her to take such actions?

Nope. Inside, she smiled. She would just have to make everyone else look even worse than they already were, and the best way to do that was….

To put her all into her tasks and shine through, set an example. Inuyasha had already told her that she was the high talk of the managers, so she may as well get herself noticed even more.

The worst she'd seen of Naraku herself was the way he treated a couple employees, particularly that nice but pansy-ish junior manager, Allen. If anything, according to what she'd seen, Naraku was purely a very harsh and impending GM who wanted the building run his way and would see to it that it would be done.

"Do you take credit cards?" a thickly accented voice interrupted her train of thought.

She shook her head out of the figurative mist in which she'd allowed her head to be wrapped and returned her attention to the customer who had just interrupted her programmed greeting.

"Sorry, it's cash only up here, but we sell gift certificates downstairs, which you can pay for with a card, ma'am," she politely explained with a smile. Not again….

"But the young man at the box office told us the concession stand takes cards--" the obviously foreign woman began again in a restrained voice.

"I can assure the concession stand has always been cash only--"

"I've used credit cards here before. Why does your register have a card swipe if you don't accept cards?" She now sounded pissed.

Kagome sighed and tried to keep her smile from wavering. "I don't know, I've only been here for little more than a month, but my coworkers told me we've never taken cards up here. As for the card swipes, I don't know."

This customer was beginning to try her patience. It was one thing for someone to ask why they didn't accept cards, but to make claims that they had at one point and that the box office employees said cards were accepted at the stand…. Ooooh, she wanted to wring something's neck.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but the box office employees must have misinformed you if they told you that. It's their job to warn card users that the concession stand is cash only so that we concession cashiers don't get such confrontations. Now, can you pay in cash, or do you need an ATM? There is one underneath the stairwell on the second floor," she answered in as polite a manner as she could.

The woman walked off without saying anything else. Kagome greeted the next customer with a sigh of relief.

During her break that night, she swiped out and grabbed her purse so she could purchase something at Border's. As she was about to leave the break room, her favorite supervisor popped in and looked around.

Laying his eyes on her, he smirked. "Exactly who I was looking for. You're on break, right?"

"Yeah, I'm going to Border's--"

"No, you're not." His expression turned serious.

She furrowed her eyebrows. When did he become so controlling? "And explain why, even though I'm off the clock?"

"Because I'm not off the clock, and we need to have a little… discussion, you might say," he cryptically explained, his eyebrow cocked. With a 'come-here' gesture of his clawed hand, he went on, "We've got some work to do, and I promise I'll keep it short."

With a roll of her eyes and a sigh, she reluctantly muttered a "fine" and followed him. He led her down the hallway and stopped at the first yellow door, the Family Restroom.

As he opened the door and entered, she said with incredulousness, "You know, if you needed to go, you should have gone before you came to--"

However, Inuyasha cut her off by quickly reaching back and gripping her wrist, pulling her inside. When they were both out of the hallway, he turned and firmly pressed the door shut so it would close faster and then turned the inner lock.

His actions had slightly startled her, and it showed in the dumbfounded expression she now wore. "Um, Inuyasha, what… are you doing?"

Keeping himself pressed against the door even though it was locked, he crossed his arms and gazed at his employee for a moment more before speaking.

"Have you been on the lookout for things?"

"Uh, not really. But from what I've noticed, it's more the staff that is the problem here," she answered him truthfully.

"Even after seeing his actions toward Allen at the meeting?" His words had a slight seethe to them.

"That's about it, actually. I'm beginning to think you were joking--"

"This place got robbed back in November." She looked almost startled at his new revelation. "They think it was an inside job, and that it was done by this one manager who left the state immediately after it happened. Cops couldn't prove anything, just that someone popped the ceiling in this very restroom and got in that way," he continued on, pointing up at the ceiling.

"What's that got to do with Naraku?" Kagome asked. The thought of a movie theater being robbed was actually quite funny, but aside from that, what did it really have to do with Naraku?

"He acted very… unconcerned. Also, to get access to the ducts above, you need access to the roof, which means you need… oh hell, I can't remember all the details and shit. I just know that for a GM, Naraku didn't really care that someone pulled an inside job on this place and got off with nearly $5000," he finished.

"But, that's stuff I wasn't even in the country to experience," she replied. "I mean, yeah, it's something not to forget about or take lightly, but--"

"You and I are going to start a notebook to keep track of shit that goes on. Obviously I know more of what's gone on because this is only your second month here, and I've been here through three different GMs now. However, like I said, I need you as an insider. I have no intention of ever quitting this place, regardless of what the management pull. I just wanna get rid of that stupid fuck."

She blinked a couple times. "O…kaaaay…" she trailed off, looking a bit puzzled.

"I know much of the staff sucks, but that's the fault of the hiring manager. Sooner or later, they'll get themselves fired, or they'll quit or something," he replied in a nonchalant manner.

The two continued to look at each other until Kagome broke the silence. "Well, I guess it'll make me seem even more appealing to the managers, you know?" She laughed lightly but nervously.

"You are right," he quickly answered in surprise and looked down at his hands, clasping them together oddly.

Kagome studied him. He was rarely anything other than an overconfident, overbearing clown who somehow managed to balance his self-amusement antics with enough proper job etiquette to pass off as doing his job. Well, no, maybe that was downsizing him a little bit. No, downsizing him a lot. She had to give him a lot of credit for putting up with some of their coworkers without so much as the bat of an eye. And he knew how to run things. After working with him for a while, she could understand, aside from his personal choice to work in such a place, why he'd been at this job for so long.

"Inuyasha, I'll be sure to pay a bit more attention now, and I'll let you know whenever something happens," she promised him in a serious tone.

---

"Alright, I want everyone in the prep room of the concession stand! Ushers, box office, concessions, managers… everyone!" Naraku called out to the mad rush of employees who were scrambling to get the cleanup started.

It took a while, but soon he had everyone assembled behind the stand in the roomier section of the prep room. It was time for an announcement. Naraku first had his employees divide up by level and then by department. Kagome stood quietly with Brenda, Clint, and Callie, several coworkers away from Inuyasha.

The GM ran his fingers through the long black tresses that fell behind his shoulder before he began to speak.

"First, I am happy to state that I have been more than pleased with the way we've handled the crowds this weekend. Despite having some of the thickest crowds we've had in a long time, we managed to get through them quickly and efficiently. Both in the box office and in the concession stand.

"Ushers," he paused for a moment to rub his hands together and smile, a dry, feathery laugh escaping for a mere moment, "you've done an excellent job of cleaning the auditoriums in record time and greeting customers quickly, courteously, and efficiently. You, all you ushers here tonight, may leave, except those who are part of management."

The other employees watched jealously as the ushers, who normally had to stay and help the concessions employees clean up on such workload-heavy evenings as the evenings of that weekend so far, were allowed to leave with no more job-related obligations for the night. No one spoke. It was not a time to be talking when the very man who could make or break one's employment status was detailing a critique on everyone's job performance.

"That brings me to the next section… box office. You were excellent in handling the crowds and especially in handling the customers who came for movies whose showtimes we cancelled so that we could put our top priority movie onto additional screens via interlock. You kept the lines short and helped customers utilize the self-serve station and the reservation pick-up ATM."

Naraku squinted his eyes for a moment as his gaze fell from the group of box office workers over to Kagome. "There is, however, one thing that must be addressed.

"Kagome!"

Kagome only just noticed that he was staring straight at her, and she met his gaze, suddenly feeling a bit apprehensive. "Uh, yes, Naraku?"

"While I do consider you probably my most favorite employee here, let me state this here and now," her GM drawled out menacingly, his grin taking on a glint of perturbedness. He paced up toward her until he was directly in front of her. The remainder of the staff glanced at her with worry. Naraku was not one to cross paths with when he was angry.

"If you ever tell another customer what the box office employees should and should not be doing, and what you think their job is, I will fucking suspend you, do you understand?!" His voice was now highly strained, and she physically winced at every few words during that last sentence, as the words stung her quite deeply. His face was contorted with distaste for her previous actions.

She glanced quickly toward and then away from Inuyasha, noticing that he kept his face frozen in a look of half concern, half disinterest, as he slightly ground his lower jaw in a slight grimace. Her eyes landed back upon her GM's face, and with a slight tremble to her entire body, she managed to squeak out a quiet affirmative answer.

"Y-yes, I understand," she breathed out, half-lidded with embarrassment and wanting to cover her face with her hands so that no one could see her jaw ready to tighten up and start clacking. "It won't happen again, I swear."

Naraku then smiled with approval and chuckled, leaving nearly everyone in slight shock that he had blown up at her, of all people. It was common for him to express such angry words toward employees who did not do as he would have preferred. But even the most jaded employees never would have suspected Kagome to be on the receiving end of such a threat of extreme discipline.

No one dared speak for fear of being called upon and singled out in a similar manner. They just looked at each other worriedly.

He allowed the box office employees to leave for the night and then went on to congratulate the concessions employees for their excellent job at pushing the Matrix Combo and for the excellent per capita scores during the past four days.

"The combo contest is coming along quite nicely so far. And while there is still some room for improvement in the stand, I was quite pleased with the way you all kept things stocked and were very prepared to take on the roughest of rushes. There is a staff meeting just for you concession workers in a few weeks. I will have information posted in the break room toward the end of this week. Everyone is expected to attend, and I will accept no excuses. Is that fucking understood?" he asked, a drop of self-amusement in his tone of voice.

---

It took Kagome a long time that night to shake off the dirty feeling she'd felt from everyone's gaze upon her, from being singled out as being both his favorite employee and yet someone he would severely discipline at the drop of a hat. The double entendre feeling of receiving both his praise and his disapproval.

And she realized that Inuyasha was right. She hadn't seen enough yet. She had just barely seen anything. And she would only see more as time would pass. It was time to prepare and somehow will herself to put up with the hell she could only predict would begin to come forth.

As she lay in her bed half alert, she sighed with a hint of sadness. "I can do this, I can put up with this, and I will put up with this. I swear, I will slave away and put my all into this job. I will prove to myself that I can handle anything placed in my path," she rambled to herself. She wasn't sure whom she was trying to convince more… herself, or the little voice in her head.

After a quiet moment of reflection, an image of her supervisor popped into her head, and she suddenly became inclined to do something.

---

A murky ring tone broke into Inuyasha's sleep and drove off his strange down-winding thoughts as his eyes shot open and he sat up, searching the surrounding area in his bedroom for the offending noise. His cell phone. His hand groggily reached for his cell phone, and after pressing the 'answer' button, he positioned the phone so he could speak into the mouthpiece yet still hear the caller.

"Miroku, the fuck you callin' me at a time like this?!" he managed to croak out in annoyance, holding his unoccupied hand to his forehead in order to aid in quelling his headache.

"Inuyasha?" Both of his doglike ears perked to attention. The voice on the other end was not Miroku. It was definitely feminine. He recognized it right away.

"Nani?" he blurted out, puzzled.

"Sorry about calling so late, but how about sometime later this week we meet up and discuss that notebook?" The voice paused for a moment. "And discuss other stuff too, you know?" There was a nervous laugh.

"Like?" He had never expected her to call him, even after becoming slightly close from working together all the time and seeing each other at work so often.

"Uh… us?"

A smile managed to break out on his still somewhat disgruntled face.

"Sure. But just fuckin' go to bed right now, Kagome," he sleepily ordered with a yawn, almost slurring the words, "and call me tomorrow when you're home from school. I have the day off."

"Night, then." She hung up.

"Night," Inuyasha murmured aloud to no one other than himself. "Stick with me. I'll make sure nothing too terrible happens."

------------

A/N: thanks you, everyone, for the reviews.