How Cliche Kittens

The Zoo

The sound of the alarm clock reached Gina's ears. Ah, eight already? Gina was rather the lucky of the three girls. She got to sleep until eight, and didn't have to be to work until ten. Why? You ask. Well, Gina worked at the zoo. Yes, the zoo. As well as adoring children, Gina adored animals. So when she had received the call from their local zoo, about a thirty minute drive away, she was ecstatic.

Sighing happily, the blonde rolled out of bed, and decided she wanted a shower first. She could pick up something to eat on the way to work. Maybe grab a frappe. As she prepared for her shower, she wondered what to do with the Uchiha, whom she assumed was sitting at her kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee. She could leave him here, but he might get bored. After all, she worked from ten in the morning, until the zoo closed at nine in the evening.

As she got in the shower, her mind was racing with thoughts. They were going shopping in a few days. Friday. The magical day where they all had money. It had been decided that they would buy them clothes for every season. After all, they had no idea how long the men would be staying with them. Gina hated to admit it, but ever since Itachi was introduced to the shower she had a bit of a crush on him. Now, he was living with her. How could she not grin at the though, as she scrubbed herself clean. Audrey and Deidara seemed to be getting along too. Not surprising. In all honest, Audrey had a sweet charm that could suck any guy in. S-ranked criminal or not. Sasori and Evelynn on the other hand.. Well, Evelynn would never admit it. Something was definitely there between the two of them. Sasori wasn't blind to this fact, Gina noted. The red-headed, stubborn woman, though.. Yeah, she would need some work. Gina reminded herself to talk to Audrey about that.

The blonde stepped out of the shower, turning off the water, of course. She quickly dried herself and got dressed. The zoo's dress code was pretty lenient. Plain jeans, a plain t-shirt, and the zoo's vest. She wrapped her hair up in the towel, and went to the kitchen to talk to Itachi. She'd let him decide if he wanted to stay or go with her. As she entered the kitchen he was, in fact, sitting at the table with a cup of coffee.

"Morning," she greeted.

"Good morning." Ah, so proper.

"Uh, I have to go to work. I'll be gone all day. So you can say here or go with me. It doesn't matter."

"I suppose I should go along. I'm interested to see what people do for a living in this world." the Uchiha stated.

Gina just nodded, and went to get her hair dried before they left.

-Time skip!-

The two were now in Gina's car, and Gina was pulling into a McDonald's.

"What is this?" Itachi asked curiously.

"Ah, McDonald's. It's fast food, for people in a rush. They can stop and grab a bite to eat." Gina explained. Itachi just nodded.

Gina order them each a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich. A coffee for Itachi and a caramel frappe for herself. The black haired man eyed the food curiously. They certainly didn't have anything like this back in his world. He slowly took a bite, decided it was edible, and continued to eat the sandwich. Gina seemed pleased with this, and continued on her way to work.

-Time skip!-

They arrived at the zoo within thirty minutes or so, and Gina pulled into the employee parking. Itachi followed as she got out of the car, and walked into a small building. There, Gina punched in, and turned to the male sitting behind the counter.

"Hey, Roger. This is a friend of mine. He's, uh, not from around here," Gina stole a glance at Itachi.

"So, I brought him in with me today."

"Oh." Roger looked up from the computer in front of him. "Yeah, I'm sure Boss won't mind, G."

"Anything specific that needs done today?" Gina inquired. Roger could easily forget to tell her if there was something that needed done. The guy was kind of an air-head.

"Oh, right! Ah, boss wanted you to feed the reptiles this morning. Penny got freaked out when she did it."

"Ha, alright."

Gina led Itachi to the reptile house. She grabbed the bag of half-alive mice, and went to feed the snaked. As she fed them, she explained to him what each snake was, and how they lived in the wild. The Uchiha would nod, and ask a question here or there. He was rather impressed by how much she knew of the animals.

"Do you know about all the animals in the zoo?" He questioned.

"For the most part. I have a fairly good memory. Usually I'm the one who gives tours when we have a tour group." Gina explained.

If there's one thing Itachi could appreciate, it was intelligence.

Once the reptiles were fed and given water, Gina went on about the rest of her work. She picked up any trash they saw laying around the zoo. She checked the stats on the animals; If any were sick, pregnant, but most were in perfect health. Often she helped clean out the habitats of the big cats, the elephants, and the monkeys. She reported anything out of the ordinary, which was rare, and made sure the animals in her area for the day had water kept in their habitats. It was summer, after all.

At lunch time, around two, Gina took Itachi to the employee's quarters. She bought them both a personal pizza. Evelynn would be proud of that choice. Itachi ate in content. Impressed by how good the food in this world could taste.

"So, how's the whole 'finding a way to get home' thing going?" Gina asked.

"Hn. We're not trying very hard." Itachi admitted. Gina blinked.

"Uh, why not?"

"There's not much reason to. None of us were very happy, to be completely honest." Itachi replied calmly.

"I see." Gina paused for a moment. "Why not?"

"Hn." Itachi looked up at her. Studying her. Almost as if trying to see if she was trust worthy. "My brother died, I have no business left in our world. Sasori, after he killed his grandmother.."

"Wait, he killed his grandmother?!"

Itachi just nodded, "He wasn't the same. I supposed 'depressed' is the word I'm looking for. Deidara, well, as soon as he was forced into Akatsuki he was very unhappy. Since there's really nothing for us in our world, we haven't been trying our hardest to get back."

Gina just nodded. She soaked all this information in. It was definitely important. She would have to have a conference with Evelynn and Audrey. They probably wouldn't mind, and the whole 'get a house together' plan that Evelynn mentioned was looking better and better.