The Heat of Summer Sunshine

By: Sweet Bliss

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, although the idea is entirely mine

Rated: T for language, slight violence, and possible adult themes.

…

Summary: Sakura's summer was going to be like any other. Work at the beach shack to save up some money; maybe catch a few waves on her breaks; be annoyed by her best friend, Naruto. But this time, summer's heating up with the arrival of her new co-worker.

…

It was a beautiful day to be at the beach. Cool waves rushing onto the sandy brown shores, bringing a collection of shells and sea critters in from the ocean. Kids building sand castles along the edge, trying not to have their masterpieces destroyed by the oncoming water. People all over relaxed on their towels or chairs, tanning or reading. It was a perfect summer time… well, at least for them.

But here she was. Pink hair tied up, sweat forming on her brow, in a barely air-conditioned room, selling shovels-and-pails and soda pop. Donning the uniform of a white shirt with the company's logo and khaki shorts that were slowly giving her a wedgie. That perverted man who had become the newest head of the incorporation designed the outfits so that "the female employees would be more comfortable in their work environment" (All he really wanted was to see their legs, and hopefully draw in more customers). Yes, it was all too much for the one and only Haruno Sakura.

Especially when her best friend was pestering her about some new friend he met at a skateboarding convention (or something like that) and the fact that she was the only person working today. Didn't they hire a new guy to come in? Probably some nerdy boy that will only stare at her legs all day and make bad jokes.

"Naruto, shut up. And move out of line, customers are waiting."

The said male turned around to look behind him, only to see no one.

"What customers? The plant in the corner or the trashcan? C'mon, Sakura, he's really cool, and I'm sure you'd love him. Pretty pleeeeeeeeease! Nobody will ever find out," he whined to his best friend from the other side of the counter, big blue eyes watering dramatically.

"Alright, alright! My break is soon anyway."

She knew she shouldn't have gave in to his puppy dog eyes and his quivering lip, but if it got him to shut up then she knew she had to.

…

He lead her outside, and Sakura began to thank Naruto in her head for saving her from that hellhole. The sun beat down on the two of them, and Sakura had to shield her eyes from the bright rays.

"This way, Sakura!" Naruto called to her with a wide grin on his face.

If this was another plan to hook her up with some lame, egomaniac again, then Naruto would sure be in a lot of pain. She sighed as she hopped down the steps just to keep up with the over enthusiastic blond.

She took off her sandals, letting her toes sink into the hot sand beneath them. Running after Naruto, she squinted in the bright light to see who he was talking to.

That's when she saw him. Water dripping form his ebony locks and onto a well toned body. Sultry dark eyes stared at her, locking her gaze with his. She could have sworn she was even drooling. But then the moment shattered when he asked, "Who the hell are you?"

She blinked. "I-I'm Sakura."

The boy ran a hand through his wet hair, and glared at his new friend. "Is this your girlfriend? She's flatchested, you know."

Gasping in shock, the girl folded her arms over her chest. She may not be the most developed girl, but she did take after her mother. It wasn't her fault.

Naruto jumped in quickly his face beet red, "Wh-what?! No, Sakura isn't my girlfriend! She's just my friend, almost like an older sister. I wouldn't date her even if you paid me."

It probably wasn't the best thing to say, as she turned on her heel and stomped (or at least she tried to, which was difficult considering her feet sinking into the sand) back to the 'Shake n' Shack Beach House'. Flatchested? Who did that guy think he was? And Naruto, she couldn't believe he'd say that in front of that cute, yet rude, new guy.

"Sakura, wait up! I'm sorry about what I said, I didn't mean it like that!"

How come she couldn't stay mad at him?

"I know Sasuke can be a bastard and a-" Sakura cut him off.

"Shut up 'cause your not helping his case. Stupid pile of shit," she muttered darkly.

"Well, you better get used to it. After his break is over, he's going to work," Naruto stated matter-of-factly, arms folded behind his head.

Sakura stopped dead in her tracks. What the hell? He was the new employee at the beach shack?! Her green eyes glanced over to where he had been to find him no longer there. Covering her face with her hands, she sighed and mumbled, "Why me? Why me?" Her vacation couldn't get any worse and it had just started.

…

"One banana and peach smoothie. That'll be $4.97. Here's your change. Thank you and come again," Sakura said half-heartedly forcing a fake smile on her face.

The events from earlier kept running through her mind, and it didn't help that in a few minutes he'd be working right alongside her. Maybe this was all a very bad dream.

Looking down at the cash register, she placed the money she had just received into the cash register, in a very neat fashion. She was bored and sorting the money and placing it in correctly was the only thing to keep her busy.

She heard someone enter and automatically greeted, "Welcome to Shake n' Shack Beach House. How may I help you?"

"By shutting the hell up and giving me my uniform."

She knew that voice. She gritted her teeth, handing him the clothes that he was required to wear roughly. "Changing room is in the back," she stated ignoring the glare he sent her as she greeted a new customer.

…

Well, here they were working together… in a sense. They had divided the work method. He'd be in the back until four and then they'd switch and he'd run the front. He didn't even leave her time to object as he silenced her saying, "Do you want to scare away all our customers with that face of yours?"

That had silenced her for a while. She had begun mumbling ways to kill him since. Which terrified some of the people in the little building. Yet they didn't say a word about the crazy girl working the front.

"Hi, welcome to Shake… n' Shack Beach House. How may I… help you?"

She stared at the two teenagers in front of her. One a slightly tall boy with bright orange hair and the other was a very short girl (compared to him and most other people in line) with dark hair and violet eyes.

"Damn, just order already, midget."

The girl stuck her tongue out at him, and Sakura began to grow impatient with them, yet didn't voice her opinion aloud.

The girl looked up, fingers fiddling with the bunny-faced charms on her pink cell phone.

"I want a strawberry milkshake," the girl glanced over to her partner (or boyfriend, Sakura honestly couldn't tell). His cheeks were slightly going pink as he paid for her drink. She smiled as she got her drink and her hand then laced with his as they took a seat near the entrance.

After a good twenty minutes of tending to people, Sakura sighed as the clock behind her ticked away the last few seconds of her shift at the front. She dreaded going to the back to stack boxes and do inventory.

But the entities above weren't being kind to her. Sasuke appeared a minute or two later, sweating from the heat in the back, his bangs stuck to his forehead.

"How about you take a break," she offered him with a small smile on her face. Just because they hated each other didn't mean she couldn't be civil at times. He raised an eyebrow but didn't say a thing as he sat himself down at a table closest to her.

Just then though, her day was further ruined when a few girls she had been dreading to see came in. Sakura didn't even greet them as they headed towards her.

"Well, Forehead, hop to it. I want an unsweetened tea, fries, a burger -leave off the onions- and also a pretzel," the girl said as she eyed her newly manicured nails.

Sakura turned to get their order when Ami started to talking to her friends, "It's such a shame really. All those poor people having to stand around while Forehead waits on them. I'm pretty sure they lose their appetites when she brings them their food, not only because she's ugly but slow too."

Her friends burst out laughing and Sakura could feel tears welling up in her eyes when she realized that Sasuke was watching. Forcing them back, she began to work on their order.

She placed the burger and fires on the counter, giving Ami a glare. She grabbed a pretzel and turned to get the tea that was ordered. Looking at the drink in her hands, she got an idea for a very sweet revenge. It was even funnier to her as Ami began rambling on about the expensive white windbreaker that she was wearing.

Placing the pretzel on the counter she said automatically, "The pretzel, burger, and fries comes to a grand total of $10.67, but the tea…" She stole a glance at their bored expressions. Giving them a smile, Sakura dumped the contents of the tea down the front of Ami's shirt. "But the tea is on the house."

She left Sasuke to take care of the whining girls as she haughtily walked to the very back where they stored items. Her arrogant smirk was soon replaced by a frown as she looked at all the things she had to do. She had to finish off where Sasuke left off and then make sure everything was in order.

Groaning, the pink haired girl glared at her watch, trying to will time to go by faster. If it weren't for the giddiness she still felt from the scene with Ami, she probably would've dreaded it further. Oh, well, at least it wasn't a boring start to her summer after all.

…

She didn't even know she had fallen asleep until later when she felt something cold being pressed against her face. Assuming it was Naruto she slapped at the hand slightly and grumbled, "Naruto, let me sleep. Come back in another few hours. I'll tell you about what I did to Ami." She smiled to herself but shot up when the other person sighed.

"I'm not Naruto. Wake up, have you even started inventory?"

Sasuke stood in front of her, the drink that had been pressed to her face in his left hand, and a frown on his face. Sakura drowsily stared up at him. It was almost surreal. No way in hell could this be reality.

Wiping the sleep out of her eyes, she straightened out her shirt and hopped off the boxes she'd been sleeping on. She grumbled out an apology, and sheepishly stared at the floor.

"Well, you should really be apologizing about what you left me to deal with. It was not easy trying to calm down that annoying girl. And when she stopped crying, she began hitting on me."

There was a smirk on his face and she knew that he wasn't angry with her wasting perfectly good tea on that brat. She smiled a little, her cheeks going pink. She was sure her face matched the bubblegum color of her hair.

"I've closed the store, so I might as well help you out a little."

She shrugged her shoulders as he began to help her out, secretly happy she now had a partner to work with. Glancing at her watch she realized it was already eight. Her mom wouldn't care, she'd probably be off on another date.

She reached up, trying to place a particularly heavy box on the shelf when she felt Sasuke take it form her and place it their himself. He smirked as he queried, "Need help, Princess?" Sakura flushed at his comment and flipped him off. "To hell with you, Sasuke."

…

They finished within a few hours, and Sakura was beginning to grow tired once again. She heaved a sigh of relief as she seated herself across from Sasuke at a table in the front room.

"Thanks," she whispered as she played with her straw in her drink. He didn't answer, and she knew he wouldn't. But at least he listened.

She glanced into his eyes. He was rather handsome when he wasn't throwing a few rude remarks her way, and she found that he wasn't as bad as she had pegged him to be. That's when she got an idea.

"Hey, do you want to go out to the beach?"

He titled his head, her enthusiasm amusing him. "Whatever."

She tugged on his hand and led him to the beach outside, the breeze blowing through their hair and chilling Sakura slightly. She loved the ocean, especially at night when the moon gave off its glow on the icy waters below it. The lighthouse ahead cast it's lights through the blackened sky, guiding the boats that were out and needed the light.

Plopping down onto the sand below, Sakura sighed dreamily. This was why she decided to work at the beach house. The view was beautiful and on breaks she was allowed all the access she wanted.

The presence beside her was welcomed as she began voicing out rather personal thoughts to her new co-worker.

"My dad used to take me down here, before my parents divorced. My mom would come along, too, and we'd build sand castles or play in the water. It was the only place we ever went to as a family. Anywhere else, my parents would argue or break things. They'd even fight over me from time to time. Then one day, he just left. Got fed up with us, I guess. Weeks later the papers came in. My mom got full custody and the only time I've seen him in the past eight years was at Christmas when I was twelve. That was five years ago."

She laid herself down on the sand beside him, her green eyes staring intently at the moon and stars above. She traced patterns with her fingers, until she started laughing to herself.

"I'm sorry, I'm rambling. I bet you didn't want to hear my sob story," she spoke softly as she glanced over at him. He didn't say anything as he gazed out into the waters ahead. He then stood up, dusted himself off, and offered her his hand. She accepted after taking one last glance at the ocean.

"Come on, I'll take you home."

…

The walk to her house was a quiet one. The only thing he asked was which way to her house. Sasuke was okay with it, he liked the silence since he was used to it. And Sakura wasn't too keen on breaking the peaceful atmosphere either.

When they reached her home, she bid her new co-worker (friend?) good night as she slipped through her doorway. And once inside, she ran to her bedroom, slamming the door shut. Sinking against the wooden entrance, she laid her head and hands and sat and cried.

…End Chapter One…

A/N: Well, what do you think? I've had this idea for a little while now and wanted to see how well it did. Would you like for it to continue or not? I really would like to continue it, add in the humor that I've planned out, and maybe some love triangles that have come to mind? Please, review either way. No evil flames like "this is a piece of shit" only constructive criticism! Hope you enjoyed. Till next time!

Sweet Bliss

Oh and one more thing! The two customers (the guy and the girl) are from another well-known AniManga that I've recently obsessed over. Anybody know who they were?