What Went Wrong For Us?

Chapter 17

Right after her interview, Sakura went straight to Ino's flower shop to start her shortened shift. Her interview and near outburst were behind her, and she had to get straight to work. Although, Ino went easy on her when she arrived for her shift, giving her half an hour to rest after her commute from the TV studio. The flower shop wasn't busy, so Sakura didn't see the harm in taking an unofficial break before the mid-day rush, a sentiment with which Ino agreed. The past part was, Ino said she could clock in as soon as she arrived, allowing her to be paid for her first half-hour break, a gesture Sakura was visibly thankful to Ino for. Saying she was just a good employer, Ino waved her off, chuckling.

After her paid break, Sakura emerged from the breakroom to start tweaking some floral arrangements, as per Ino's instructions when she arrived. The store still wasn't busy. Without looking up from her paperwork, Ino handed her a pail and pointed at some arrangements that needed watering right now or were going to need watering soon, like, today. Sakura went directly to work on those arrangements in question, giving them just a couple of drops of water here and there, and a little chakra if they looked a bit too down. Keeping up her healing abilities was necessary, and as long as she was a glorified part-timer at the hospital, she would do this while waiting for a resolution to her employment situation.

A customer walked in. Ino looked up from her paperwork, smiled, bowed, and went right back to work. Sakura turned away from her work to bow, too. The customer, an older woman, bowed to them both, then began browsing the merchandise. Sakura also turned her attention back to her work, checking the arrangements for any hint that she needed to water them.

She quickly noticed that the older woman kept looking back at her, visibly curious. Sakura had seen that look before many times, so she wasn't unnerved. She just kept working, adjusting & watering flowers... it was getting kind of monotonous. Now and then, she checked to see if the older woman was still staring at her. To her relief—why relief? Oh right, it's not polite to stare—she most often caught the woman examining flower arrangements instead of her.

"Sakura! I'm going back to the office," said Ino. "Take care of the register for me, please."

"Okay," Sakura answered.

Ino picked up her paperwork and moved to the back, then Sakura put the water pail down and took Ino's place at the register. The older woman continued examining the arrangements, even as the first rush, or what could be considered a rush, came in the store: three middle-aged women, all bantering back and forth. They must be old friends, Sakura observed. She smiled and bowed to them; they returned the gesture.

Finally, the old lady found what she was looking for and brought it to the counter to check out. "Will that be all?" Sakura asked, smiling.

"That will be all," said the old lady.

Sakura rang the old lady up and began wrapping the flowers up when the old woman asked, "Have I seen you before?"

Sakura shrugged. "I don't know."

"Sorry. I feel like I've seen you somewhere before."

Sakura shrugged again. "I was a war hero. And a top doctor."

"No, I don't think—Oh, that's right, I saw you on TV this morning!" Sakura stopped, smiled awkwardly, and continued. "Why did you get so mad?" the old lady asked. Sakura ignored her. "And why did you marry that Uchiha jerk? Walking out on you for 12 years? I'd have divorced my husband if he did that. He's dead now, so—"

"Your arrangement is ready, ma'am," Sakura interrupted, handing the old woman the flowers. "Thank you for coming!" She bowed and the old lady walked out of the store. The three women were looking at Sakura. She sighed. The best, and arguably the most professional thing, she could do, was to ignore them and focus the current tasks. But they weren't ready to check out. But once again, she had time to water some plants that needed it.