So in this original post, I had forgotten the much needed disclaimer. For those of you that have already read this chapter, and don't care to reread the chapter for the small changes I made, please scroll down below for a summarization of the minor changes made.
Diclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Just borrowing for writing practice.
Itachi called his brother for the seventh time; tapping is finger on the car door he listened as an automated message intoned through his phone, "Hello, Sasuke Uchiha is not available at this time. Please leave a message. Good bye."
Itachi pinched the bridge of his nose, breathing deeply. "Sasuke, you failed to show for the meeting with the Naras. You better have a good a good explanation that does not include Naruto." Throwing the phone next to him, he leaned against the window of his limo, groaning as he rubbed his temple. The meeting with the Naras had gone, well, it could have gone better if his brother showed up, like the Naras were expecting. Instead, Itachi faked an emergency phone call halfway through the meeting, after it was painfully obvious Sasuke would not be coming, that his brother had gotten into a car accident on the way to the meeting and was so sorry he could not make it.
It wasn't that Itachi was displeased with Sasuke's passionate love with his longtime friend Naruto Uzumaki and now partner— he was, honestly, very happy. His father failed to show Sasuke any love while their overprotective mother smothered and coddled him well into his teens, distancing their relationship. Itachi felt genuinely glad; except when Sasuke forgets important meetings or fails going to work at all in favor of 'mattress dancing', as Naruto once described their intimate relations.
House flit by the window in front of Itachi, who looked on passively, going over the meeting in his head. It was with Shika Nara and his son, Shikamaru Nara, who stood to inherit the family's consulting firm. The Naras had been favored consultants of the Uchiha Applications Corporation since his great-grandfather, Madara Uchiha, had started the company.
Shika definitely saw through the lie. Probably Shikamaru as well; he may even knew that Sasuke wasn't showing up, being close to Sasuke and Naruto.
The limo drove past the residential area into a heavily wooded landscape, oak trees and maples blanketed in green leaves. Itachi could smell the fresh air from inside the vehicle. There were less houses now, and much bigger. He saw mansion and custom home appear occasionally in the window, only to fade into the background of leaves and chirping birds.
Buzz, buzz. Itachi picked up the phone. Text message? Since when has he developed avoidance issues?
"I thought the meeting was tomorrow. Sorry 'Tachi, but I'm sure you did just fine without me."
The limo stopped and Itachi noticed the front door to his mansion outside the window. He also noted Sasuke's Audi R8 Spyder and Naruto's Suzuki Hayabusa. Grabbing the phone, he opened the door before his chauffeur got to it, stalked into the mansion, determined to find his brother and new lover.
"Naruto! Where the fuck are you! I know you sent this text message and not Sasuke."
He heard a clang up the stairs and some scuffling. Itachi dashed up the stairs, going immediately to Sasuke's room, finding the door locked.
"Open the door." He banged and jiggled the knob.
"Uh, give us a few, would you 'Tachi. And Sasuke definitely sent that message, not me. It would have come from my phone if it was me."
Itachi fished through his pockets for his Swiss army knife, complete with the little extras like a lock pick and a beer opener. He never used either, but now he'll be breaking in he lock pick.
"I know it was you because my brother definitely does not cal me 'Tachi. And why isn't he talking to me?" He had his ear up to the side of the lock with twisting the knife around, listening for the click.
"Well, he's kind of tied up at the moment-"
Click. Itachi pulled the door open, finding a boxer clad Naruto standing in front of a rather naked, red-faced, tied-to-a-chair and gagged little brother. He also looked a little exhausted; like he had been having sex for hours.
Entirely likely with Naruto, he puts the energizer bunny to shame.
Groaning, he walked over to his brother and took out the ball gag. "I take it this is why you didn't show up to the Nara meeting today?"
Sasuke look up at him, eyes half open. "Naruto was demanding attention."
"What! You wanted it too! I mean really, you're black belt in Kung Fu, if you really needed to go to the meeting, you would've done a Jackie Chan move and left." Naruto was pulling on some cargo shorts while glaring the brothers.
"You handcuffed me to the bed post and-"
"Stop! I don't want to hear anymore," Itachi spat, kneeling to get his brother out of the chair.
Naruto continued mumbling as if either brother hadn't spoken. "You wouldn't even stop to check if I was ok, bastard, hey what are you doing 'Tachi, I'm not finished-"
"Yes, yes you are," Itachi grabbed a robe in his brother's closet and threw it at Sasuke. "Sasuke missed an important meeting with a very old business partner. He has to make up the work now."
"What!" Naruto yelped, "It's his day off!"
"He never told me." Itachi said, walking towards the door. "I would have remembered."
"I notified your secretary last week. I was unable to get hold of you while you were out of the country in Tokyo overseeing the company site. I took this week off," Sasuke said, putting on the robe.
Itachi stopped at the door, and cracked his neck in annoyance. "I fired my secretary last week Friday."
"Another one, brother? That's the fourth one this year."
"Yeah 'Tachi, what's up with that. They couldn't be all bad?" Naruto asked, now fully dressed with a "Ninja's pwn Pirates" t-shirt.
"Well, as you see, I have a suitable excuse." Sasuke murmured, walking towards the doorway Itachi was currently standing in. "What did you tell the Naras?"
"That you got in a minor car accident, and were too delayed to make it to the meeting."
"I'll make sure Shikamaru goes along with the story then," Sasuke said, shoving Itachi out of the doorway and closed the door. A muffled yip from Naruto was heard through the door, while Itachi turned around and walked through the hallway.
His first secretary, who had served his father for years before Itachi stepping up as CEO of Uchiha Applications Corp., retired in December. It was now May, and he had gone through four, four, incompetent, airheads.
The first one was a young woman with four years of prior secretarial experience. Supposedly. She frequently texted at work and forgot to notify him of three important calls from business partners. The second one was an old biddy who simply forgot everything, he thought more experience was required but that backfired on him. He then got an older but not grandmotherly aged woman— but her three kids kept getting sick, had strict sports schedules for after school and whatnot. She lasted the longest, about a month. The fourth one was an old acquaintance of Sasuke, Karin, but she was too obsessed with being Sasuke's secretary, she ignored her purpose of being hired was to take care of Itachi's schedule. When he asked for his itinerary last Friday, he waited and hour and a half before a reply on his blackberry, saying, "Apologies, Mr. Uchiha, I can't seem to locate the file containing your itinerary," which translated too, "I was too obsessed with Sasuke's schedule that I ignored yours."
Which was kind of strange, now that he thought about it; I must have fired her right after Sasuke notified Karin of his vacation. Otherwise, I would've known.
Walking downstairs, he ignored his lush surroundings. A chandelier overhead, artwork from current popular artists, stainless steel kitchen, and furniture picked out by some decorator he hired years ago when he and his brother had moved into the house. TV, stereo system, sliding glass doors revealing an outdoor pool. He turned to the side and went through the kitchen into another hallway. His study, along with a small library and bathroom was on the first floor. They had a sizable home, but it was more opulent in quality, than size. He looked through the windows to his backyard, looking at a forest, alive, peaceful.
He cracked his neck again. Tomorrow, he would call the temp company again; he needed another secretary.
Knock, knock. Itachi turned and looked at his brother, fully clothed in jeans and button down shirt.
"I thought you wanted your alone time with Naruto."
"I merely wanted to explain I needed to be away for a little bit." Sasuke said, leaning by the windowsill opposite Itachi.
"You need to take a vacation, Itachi. Next week, go to our summer house or something. I'll take care of the meetings and business engagements."
"Can you stand being away from Naruto that long?" Itachi asked his tone faintly sour.
"Is that jealousy I hear Itachi? That's not like you."
"I am not jealous of you having Naruto. Keep him, live long and prosper," Itachi said sarcastically. He held up his hand in proper Vulcan salute, parody of the Star Trek reference.
"No, jealousy of our relationship, I mean. I think you are."
"Don't be delusional please. It runs in our family and I don't want another Uchiha in the crazy house."
"Hn," Sasuke scoffed, turning his head to look out at the scenery. "It's Thursday. Tomorrow, we'll merge your schedule with mine, and you'll book a plane to our summer house in North Carolina. You'll leave at the as early as possible, which is feasible since you have no plans for this weekend."
"How do you know that? I could very well be going out with Shisui."
"I talked to Shisui yesterday. He has a lovely girlfriend he's been seeing for the past two months you have yet to meet."
Itachi rested his head against the wall, staring at woodpecker hole in a tree 100 feet away.
"You will be gone the entire week. When you come back the following Monday, you will have a new secretary that I picked out."
Itachi snapped his head up at this, "No! Absolutely not, I took your suggestion this last time. Karin was more obsessed with you than doing her own work. All the women you know are practically fangirls."
"That's not true, and I made a mistake with Karin. She was available and I thought I prepared her well, but she was more obsessed with me. I admit that." Itachi made a noise, while Sasuke glared, continuing, "However, I will not make a mistake this time. I will at least find a suitable temp, giving you time to find a secretary to your liking. Each time you interviewed, you rushed the job because of time constraints."
Itachi shrugged at this. It wasn't his fault he had a multi-million dollar company to run.
"Well, brother?"
Sasuke's voice was farther away, Itachi turned, looking at his younger brother. He was 24; so mature and serious, while his lover possessed the maturity of a freshman high school student, probably for eternity.
"Alright Sasuke, I give you another chance. And I'll take the vacation."
"Good. I didn't want to call in Shisui to kidnap you."
Sakura stared at her frenemy's face while she shoveled the last and fourth, fourth, scoop of ice cream into her mouth.
"Pig."
Ino's glare quickly turned into a wince, "Ugh, brain freeze!" She snapped. "So, forehead, what are you doing this summer?" Pushing way the sundae bowl, she leaned back into her chair. They were at a local ice cream parlor in the suburbs. Sitting outside they had view of the charming town, kids in the park, cars whizzing by with busy people going somewhere important; quaint shops, a bakery, a French restaurant, boutiques.
"Well, I had planned on assisting at Tsunade's medical practice this summer, but she retired last month. And there are not too many people I can take orders from."
"Hence why you're in medical school to be the boss! But Tsunade retired? I thought she was like, forty?" Ino asked.
"No way, she's past sixty." Ino huffed at Sakura's words.
"But how? I mean, she's hot!"
Sakura turned to Ino, her friend, enemy, aka, frenemy, and raised her eyebrows.
"Th-that's not what I meant! You know what I mean…" Ino's voice trailed off, and her cheeks were a little too pink to be considered blush.
"She has a former student who went into plastic surgery. She mostly does those charity aid missions, doctors without borders type of deal. But whenever she's in town, Tsunade disappears for awhile and comes back thinner, tighter, bigger, or something."
"So, what are you going to do then? Be lazy and get fat? Sasuke will never look at you if that's what you're thinking."
"Sasuke will never look at me period. How we never noticed in high school he was a flaming homosexual, is a mystery. But he's with Naruto now."
Ino made a face, "Yeah, once you get the whole, Sasuke likes dudes, it's kind of hard not seeing that one happen. I mean, he was always with Naruto and Naruto was always-"
"Point made Ino." Sakura said, looking rather determinedly past Ino's shoulder. She felt a twisting in her gut at Ino's words, a painful reminder of her past foolishness. He was a friend, nothing more; no matter how covetous she became of Sasuke, he never was hers to begin with. He was always Naruto's, since they first met.
"I didn't mean-" Sakura shook her head, cutting Ino off. Taking her purse, she gestured across the street at a trendy boutique they hadn't been to in awhile.
"What will you do then? I mean, three whole months off…" Ino said, walking quickly towards clothes and shoes and many other sparkly, shiny things that gave her father's credit card bill a heart attack, monthly.
"Take it easy I guess. My program gives me only the first summer off. I'll take advantage of it, since I'll be in school year round for the next three years come August."
"Mmm..." Ino hummed noncommittally, latching herself to the nearest rack while Sakura sighed, going to another one nearby. She perused floral blouses, peasant skirt, wedged sandals, and solid color tank tops for an hour with Ino. Ino had ten items in her arms while Sakura had zero. Medical school tuition had not been kind to her, and window shopping was the only type of shopping she'd be doing for awhile. No matter how much her underwear drawer cried out in indignation.
Beep, beep. The clerk was ringing Ino's order up while Sakura had her back turned away from the register, not wanting to see how much she was able to spend. Slowly, she went through a mental list of to-dos, Groceries, clean apartment, go to bank for student loan papers...Sakura groaned internally.
"Ready?" Ino asked, holding a rather large bag filled with two dresses, a cute blue floral print blouse, corked wedged sandals, three tank tops, a purse, and two bracelets for accessorizing, as Ino put it.
Maybe I should get a job, Sakura thought. They left the store, and walked to their own cars. Ino quickly pecked her on the cheek and said goodbye, Sakura still lost in thought about her summer plans.
Buzz, buzz. Her phone was vibrating in her purse. She looked at it and smiled. "Naruto! Hey, how are you?"
"Good, are you out of school yet, Sakura?"
"Yes, we have to go out. It's my last summer off. And I have nothing to do since Tsunade retired."
"Really?" There was a silence on the other line, and then a loud, "Perfect!" Right into Sakura's eardrum. Her eye twitched.
"Naruto! Don't yell into the speaker!" She yelled back to him. And could hear a yelping in response.
"Sakura, sorry, sorry. What I meant was—hey, bastard, stop that! I'm on the phone with Sakura!"
Sakura sighed as she heard a faint 'I'm bored.' "Fine bastard, here you're apart of the conversation now. Sakura, you're on speaker." Naruto said.
"That's fine. Now why is it perfect that I have nothing to do?"
"'Tachi needs help and you can give it to him!"
There was another silence between phones; a longer, awkward, cricket chirping worthy silence. Sasuke broke it.
"For an idiot, that comment is incredibly stupid."
"Hey, you bastard-"
"Stop!" Sakura yelled.
"S-sakura, what happened to no yelling?" Naruto asked.
"That doesn't apply to me. Naruto try explaining what you're thinking of differently. Because it almost sounded like you want me to hook up with Sasuke's older brother."
"Well, he does need to get laid-ouch!"
"Watch your mouth before she decides to come over and break your head. I won't defend you for your lack of brain activity."
"Well he does," Naruto mumbled. "But no, he needs a secretary."
"No," Sasuke said. "Sakura does not like taking orders. She only does so for Tsunade out of respect-"
"It's ok Sasuke, I'll do it." Sakura said, cutting him off.
"You will! Aha! Thank you Sakura!" Naruto was yelling but Sakura merely held the phone away from her ear this time.
"Wait, I'm hiring the secretary Naruto," Sasuke said, trying to halt what was happening without his permission.
"And you don't have to go through those interviews because Sakura will do it."
"So that's why you insisted on calling Sakura at this moment? So I wouldn't have as much work to do?"
"Prec-"
"Or because I wouldn't have to be at the office all week? Instead work here where you could distract me and piss off my brother again."
"Uhh.." Naruto groaned, and Sakura guessed that Sasuke had punched him for being an idiot.
"Sasuke, it's ok, I'll do it," she said, turning the key in her ignition. "I have the time. At least for the summer."
"Yeah, and then 'Tachi can interview to his hearts content over the summer for the fall when Sakura goes to school. See how perfect this works out?"
"Not really, I had already given a friend up to my brother for the job. He was not impressed."
"You gave it to Karin, you dipshit. Of course he wasn't impressed! She's an airhead that worships you! It's cult creepy, really."
Sakura bugged her eyes out at hearing Sasuke had given Karin to Itachi. She hated Karin; a spoiled, selfish, egotistical, vain brat, who had latched onto Sasuke at college, whom had never bothered to shrug her off or point her in the other direction. After finding out he was gay, Karin was determined to 'change him'. Then, when he flat out told her it would never happen, she began stalking him worse than all Facebook stalkers worldwide combined. The Paparazzi could take tips from her. After all, she got into Sasuke's workplace.
"My point is, idiot, that Itachi may not like or want Sakura simply because of a bad call I made with Karin. He's hard to convince—stubborn."
"And your not?" Sakura snarled. "I've dealt with you on our senior trip, remember? The camping with no blankets because Naruto forgot them and ramen was the only food because that's all Naruto packed. And who put Naruto in charge of packing. You! And you were the prissiest bitch the entire weekend because you thought Naruto went camping before with Iruka, that he was the best choice for planning supplies."
"Ouch, them sounds like fightin' words, eh, bastard."
"Hn."
"I'm not Karin. If you're so worried that he'll misjudge me, don't say I'm your friend." Sakura said.
"He'll find out," Sasuke insisted.
"How? If you say so, then of course he'll find out."
"He'll find out regardless if I give him the information or not."
"OH! I know!" Naruto yelled into the speaker. "Then let him go for as long as possible without him knowing you and Sakura are friends, and by the time he figures it out or whatever, he'll know what a great person Sakura is!"
"That's a great idea, Naruto," Sakura blushed a little at Naruto's compliment.
"Whatever. I promised Itachi I'd find a good replacement. Sakura, please take the work seriously, but don't point fingers at me if this blows in your face."
"Such little faith Sasuke," Naruto said.
Sakura drove down the stretch forested road, listening to here two closest friends bicker over speaker like lovers who'd been together for years. She felt a strange pull at her heart, but Sakura told herself it was only happiness that her friends were so blessed to have one another.
For those of you who read this chapter the first time around, thanks. I appreciated the reviews! I had discovered later while writing this story that the back story was quite complex, and one change that did not make it to the original posting that should have- was the length of Sasuke and Naruto's relationship. I had meant to change it from them being new lovers to having been in a relationship for some time, but for some reason that change didn't save in my Word document! I also expanded Itachi's Star Trek joke when he was talking to Sasuke in private.
I have a question, I plan on posting the back story as a prequel, but I want to flesh that out a bit more before I continue with Pink Secretary, so both make sense. Do you guys want me to start posting the prequel and work on Pink Secretary on the side? Or would you like me to finish Pink Secretary first? Please post your opinion in a review.
Thanks again.