Hey guys! This is a new story I came up with. I hope I will cope making it a multi-chaptered one! :)
Summary: Uchiha Sasuke owns a very successful and trustworhty advertisement firm. But then, again, Haruno Sakura owns one, too! And that's what makes them eternal rivals! What can happen when the two of them confront each other trying to dominate the advertising business? A lot! But is their hate for each other business directed only or is there more to it? Who knows? The line between hate and love is very thin after all!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Never have, never will.
Please drop a review after you read this! I haven't gotten any reviews on my two last stories and I'm really sad! :( *sniff sniff* I really want to kow what you think of my writing! Your comments are always so helpful and welcome!
1. Preparing for battle!
The immense building shed its shadow down the busy boulevard. It had at least forty floors. On the top of it there was a huge black and blue sign that said "Uchiha Advertising". The sign seemed to catch everyone's attention. The people who passed by the boulevard raised their eyes and looked at it with admiration and awe at the same time. You could hear them whisper words like "Uchiha", "rich", "power".
He sat comfortably in his leather chair and gazed outside the large window. The sky was clear and the street busy as always. It was nine in the morning and he hadn't drunk coffee yet. Where was his damn coffee? Did it have bones in it or something? He had told Sai to always have his coffee on his bureau. "Maybe I have asked a lot from him." he thought mockingly.
Uchiha Sasuke wasn't one of those people who had unlimited patience. He wanted everything done right after he had demanded it. And he wanted it done his way. This was why his advertising firm was one of the most successful in Konoha, after all.
After a couple of minutes, he heard a light knock on his office's door.
"Come in." he said tiredly.
The door opened. A young man around the age of 27 walked in, his face expressionless. He had dark short hair and ebony eyes. His skin was pale like paper, like the sun had never seen it.
"I apologize for being late, Uchiha-san." he said calmly.
Sasuke glared at him. He hated being made to wait. "Next time, you're fired."
"Yes, Uchiha-san." The man said, his face still expressionless, bowing a little.
"Now, tell me what the schedule has in store for today." Sasuke commanded sternly.
"Right away, Uchiha-san! You have an appointment with Uzumaki-kun at ten. At noon you have an appointment with Ichiraku-kun for his advertisement on his new product. You'll meet at his company. And afterward, there are some contracts that need to be signed. At 17:00, you have your last appointment with Karin-san."
Sasuke smirked inwardly. It would be a rather easy day, except for his last meeting with Karin. That woman annoyed him to no end.
"Hn. You may go." he commanded and Sai exited the room immediately.
Sasuke looked at his watch. It was 9:30. In half an hour he would have the dobe, shouting and bugging him, in his office. He sighed desperately at the thought.
It was really strange how the two of them had become friends. Naruto was the exact opposite from him. He always smiled and laughed. And he talked too much. His reactions were always over the top. Sasuke was nothing like him. He would never smile, let alone laugh! He hated talking and he always looked cool and laid-back. They were like day and night.
However, Sasuke would admit that Naruto was his best friend, the one he trusted the most. Since they had met, back in high-school, Naruto had always been there for him. They were brothers, even though they weren't related by blood.
After going through some important papers, Sasuke tilted his head up and looked at the clock hanging on the wall. It was t-
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The door was almost torn to pieces. Sasuke glared at it.
"Who-is-it?" he hissed.
The door opened violently and a hyperactive tall man walked in shouting "TEME!"
Sasuke continued glaring. Naruto...
Uzumaki Naruto was one of the most determined and optimistic people someone would ever meet. He had a tall and muscular body. He had a baby-face, blonde spiky hair and sparkling blue eyes like the sea. His straight nose and innocent smile made him look like a teenager even though he was 27 years old. When he was 22, graduating from university, a model agent had discovered him and since then, Naruto had been having a marveled career as a model, having walked thousands meters of international catwalks and having been the main model in hundreds of fashion campaigns. At the moment he was the main male model for Sasuke's advertising firm. He liked working with his best pal.
"Teme!" Naruto shouted once again. "Why are you glaring at me?"
"Will you stop calling me 'teme' in my office?" Sasuke demanded angrily.
"Relax, Sasuke! Everybody knows I always call you like that. And everybody knows that you are one anyway." The blonde man smiled at his last comment.
Sasuke didn't say anything about Naruto's comments and just showed him to one of the chairs in front of his desk. "Sit" he ordered "we have business to talk about."
"Yes, sir!" Naruto teased him. "So, what is this all about?" he asked, curious to know.
"Ichiraku-kun, you know, the owner of the 'Ichiraku Ramen' company, wants to do an advertising for his new product and he needs one male model for it. Of course, our firm is one of the firms who were proposed for this project. Ours and...." Sasuke paused, apparently getting frustrated.
"And...?" Naruto asked. His friend seemed angry for some reason.
Sasuke glared at his desk for some minutes, trying to control his anger.
"Ours and... and Haruno's!!!" he almost yelled.
His best friend looked at him startled at first. Then, when the first shock passed, he burst out laughing.
Sasuke lifted his eyes from his desk to the blonde man. Why was the dobe laughing now? Had he said something funny?
"Why-are-you-laughing-baka?"
"You know, Sasuke, it's normal not to like someone because they're as good as you in the business, but your reaction towards Haruno-san is...is something else!" Naruto replied smiling cunningly.
"Hn. What do you mean dobe?"
"Don't play nonchalant to me, teme! You probably like her! Actually, I'm sure you do! You can't hide from me Uchiha!" Naruto shouted triumphantly, proud that he found out about his pal's romantic interest.
Sasuke's eyes widened at the dobe's words. Then, he smirked mockingly.
"You're crazy." He retorted.
"Come on, Sasuke! Admit it! You like her!"
"I don't!"
"Yes, you dooo!" Naruto sang.
"I don't, you baka!" Sasuke insisted glaring at the blonde man.
"Denial! You like her!" Naruto sang again.
"I DON'T!!!"
At the other side of the city...
Sakura walked in her neat office, purple stilettos echoing in the chic-furnished room. She threw her bag on her expensive desk, yet she didn't sit in her chair. She stood in front of one of the large windows of her office and looked at the park across the street. She took in a deep breath and sighed heavily in an attempt to make her stress go away.
The past week had been so pressing, she hadn't slept throughout it all. Work had been totally crazy those days. It still was the same.
Inhaling deeply once again, Sakura sat in her comfortable chair and pressed a button on the telephone device on her desk, calling her secretary.
There was a knock on her door and she gave permission to the person behind it to come in. The door opened slowly and a shy girl appeared. The girl had long black-blueish hair that reached the middle of her back. She had creamy skin and the most admirable thing on her were her pearly eyes that seemed not to focus somewhere particularly.
"Good morning, Haruno-san." The girl spelled quietly looking in her boss's eyes.
"Good morning, Hinata." Sakura replied tiredly. "Can you bring me a cup of coffee and come and tell me the schedule for today, okay?"
"Right away, Haruno-san!" the girl said hastily, worried about her boss's health. Sakura killed her self to work lately and that, definitely, couldn't be good!
"Hinata, I have told you a thousand times not to call me with my last name. We're friends!" Sakura complained.
"Sakura....this is our work place. I can't just call you 'Sakura'! You're my boss!"
"At least, call me 'Sakura-san', not 'Haruno-san'." Sakura asked.
"B-but..." the girl stuttered.
"No 'but's'! I'll accept nothing more!" Sakura retorted now sternly.
"Fine." The other woman finally surrendered. She knew how painfully stubborn her friend could be.
"Good! Now go and do what I asked you to!"
"Hai!" Hinata replied, turned around and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.
Sakura thought of all the work that had to be done and felt her stomach become really heavy like it had lead in it. She contemplated that she had a very important meeting today, but she couldn't remember with who...
Just when she was trying to remember with who she had that important meeting, Hinata walked in and set a cup of coffee on the desk next to Sakura's right hand.
Sakura muttered a 'thank you' and caught the cup with her two palms, enjoying the warmth it emitted. She drank a big sip and felt her brain starting to work again. She saw Hinata watching her worriedly, but she brushed her off whispering "I'm fine."
She then ordered "Now tell me about the schedule for the day."
"Hai! At half past ten you are to meet Neji-kun here and talk about the advertisement Ichiraku-kun wants to do. At noon you have to meet Ichiraku-kun at his company. Ino will come and pick you up for lunch at 14:00. She will not take 'no' for an answer. Her actual words were "Tell her that I will have her office and whole house painted pink if she says no". And...you can't jeopardize your sanity for work, right?"
Sakura smiled faintly. "Right." she said. "How about the afternoon? Haven't I got any appointments then?"
"No. Ino made me cancel them all. She has the whole afternoon planned for you two. She told me something about 'manicure', 'pedicure', 'hot springs' and the 'hairdresser's'."
Sakura felt really grateful to have such great friends. However, she also felt kind of guilty for leaving such a load of work for tomorrow. But the guilt went immediately away when she thought about how much she would relax today, after such a crazy week.
Suddenly, a question popped in her head and tilted it up to look at Hinata.
"Hinata, tell me, has Ichiraku-kun finally selected us to advertise his product or is there another firm he is considering of entrusting his product with?"
Hinata hoped she wouldn't have to answer this question. How could she tell her that the one person she hated the most was her 'opponent'? "Oh, God help me!" Hinata thought desperate.
"S-Sakura..." she stuttered "How can I tell you this?"
"What? Don't tell me he...he is..." Sakura couldn't believe this! The one person she couldn't stand the most was aspirant to asserting one of her most ambitious projects!
"Sakura...are you alright?" Hinata asked warily.
"No, I'm not. I'll probably kill him the minute I see him, but I'll think about it later. I have to get to work, right now." she replied calmly but deep inside she was very very very pissed! She was going to crush that Uchiha bastard!
"When Neji arrives send him in immediately!" she commanded.
"Hai!" Hinata spun on her heels and left Sakura alone in her office.
Sakura brought her palms and rubbed her sore eyes trying to ease the pain of not having slept almost at all. She sighed for what seemed like the thirtieth time that day. She let her hands fall on the desk and caught the cup with the coffee with her right hand. She brought it to her pink lips and took a long sip closing her eyes in contentment.
After a few moments had passed, she opened her eyes and decided to work on her presentation for the Ichiraku advertisement.
She was absolutely drawn in her project when she heard the telephone ringing. It was Hinata informing her that Neji had arrived.
Someone knocked on her door.
"Come in!" she called.
Her office's door opened and she looked up to see a breathtakingly handsome man walk in.
Yes. Hyuuga Neji was gorgeous. Drop dead gorgeous. He was tall and had a lean figure. He also had a very well-built body. His legs were long and strong. He had broad muscular shoulders and toned abs, which you could discriminate as his shirt was tight around them. However, the most interesting part of him was his face. He had this pale skin that contrasted to his long dark brown hair. His eyes were also interesting, of a pearly-lavender nuance, just like his cousin's, Hinata. His straight nose, strong jaw and thin lips completed his whole appearance making it utterly appealing.
Sakura smiled at him a bit dazed by his powerful appearance. "Good morning, Neji."
"Good morning, Sakura." he replied, his voice low and totally masculine.
Sakura shivered a little at his tone. She smiled again, sheepishly this time.
"You know the reason why I called you here today, Neji. You are the main male model of my firm and so, I want you to participate in the new advertisement we might be preparing for Ichiraku-kun. If he chooses us, of course."
"If he chooses us?" Neji asked curious, one eyebrow cocked.
"Well, yes." she said frowning at the thought. "It seemes that he's going to choose between our firm and...Uchiha's." She pronounced the last word as if it was a swear.
"I'll do my best to get the job. Together we will get it." Neji reassured her, staring deep in her eyes.
Sakura gulped harshly as she stared back at him. Her heartbeats started raising for some reason.
She looked down at her lap, breaking off their intense stare, and softly chuckled. "Yes, we will."
She could feel his stare burning holes through her skull and didn't dare to look at him again, afraid of embarrassing herself.
She finally lifted her gaze off her lap and chose to look at the door instead.
"Do whatever you have to do and then meet me here at half past eleven. We have to be at Ichiraku's company at noon." she demanded, her voice sounding all business-like.
The dark haired man reached for her hand and caressed softly, before getting of his chair and walking out.
Another shiver ran through her spine as she watched Neji's retreating back.
"Sakura, focus! We have business to deal with now!" she said to herself, regaining her composure.
It was incredible how this man made her drool like some twelve-year-old.
"Damn you, Neji and your hot looks!" she thought, mentally slapping herself.
So, this is the first chapter! I hope you liked it! Don't forget to review!!!! See you soon! xoxo