Shift
Aspiring. Hardworking. Determined. That's what she is. She hands the keys of her car for valet and swaggers to the entrance of a tall yet minimalist building. Picking the fourth elevator, her favourite, nicely painted fingernails pressed the button where a 7 proudly lit. A ding informs her that she's arrived on her specified floor. On her way to the meeting room, she smiles and greets every one of the employees she meets. Opening the heavy oak doors, she checks her watch.
7:30
Only 30 minutes left before what she considers a test of a lifetime starts. She carefully turns on her laptop and sets up the projector to the most perfect angle she could muster.
7:40
She does one last check of her presentation, flipping through the slides. Fortunately, it was spotless from errors.
7:45
She checks her reflection on a mirror. She paces around once. Then does it again.
7:50
She sits down, calming herself. Breathe. Relax. The words repeat themselves in her head.
8:00
"Good morning, Ms. Haruno," a voice rings. She looks up to the most powerful man besides the Feudal Lord, perhaps.
"Good morning, Mr. Uchiha," she responds, quite happily because her voice didn't betray her.
The impassive Fugaku Uchiha nods in acknowledgement and sits down on his "throne". She shakes hands with the other board members.
"Good morning, Ms. Haruno," a mature-looking man greets, offering a hand. She takes it. "I am Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke's older brother," he smiles.
"Good morning, Sir," she responds. And after noticing the door creak to present her ever-striking boss a.k.a. her evil friend, she smiles in palpable relief.
"Good morning to you, Sasuke." He looks at her and nods a bit… nervously? Then his eyes flickers to his father and she narrows her eyes at him in understanding.
When everyone has settled, she takes this as permission to begin.
"Good day, everyone. As you all know, I am here because of Mr. Fugaku's challenge of presenting a concept for Charisma's fiftieth anniversary. And I thought What made Charisma stick through all these years? The answer is power and influence."
The words caused silence.
"That is our theme. I'm thinking about gathering ten of the most influential people from the five countries, five men and five women. Isn't that fitting for five decades?"
"And why do we need these people?" someone asked.
"Because these people have power, they have influence, they are famous, people adore them! They will attract readers everywhere," she answered in a tone that not-so-obviously said DUH?
"How do we get these people?" Itachi asked.
"Sir, I have connections. A lot of connections," she answers.
He smiles stoically, as if saying Go on, do your thing.
"Thank you, Miss Haruno. We will call you back in the room after we deliberate," Fugaku says.
She bows slightly then leaves the room swiftly. Once out, she lets go of a breath she didn't realize she's been holding in. Then Sasuke came out and her curious mind asks "Why are you here?"
"I've been asked to leave, Sakura. Apparently, my decision is not needed, and so is my presence. I like your ideas."
Sakura thought, Wow! That came out of literal nowhere.
"You do? Is it good?" she asks in a galling manner. He just nods.
After about five minutes, Itachi tells them to enter. They enter.
Itachi smiles and Fugaku says an impressed "You're in."
Sakura tried her best to remain calm and stoic as she shook hands with everyone as they left saying "Thank you."
Only Fugaku and his sons remained. The dad tells them to leave and wait outside. Sakura could swear she heard her heart beating loudly.
Sitting down, she purses her lips. She felt herself wavering under his gaze.
"You will be standing in lieu of Sasuke. He will be under you, instead."
In her 6 years working for the Uchihas' company, she learned not to say "What?" when you're surprised. Nod and accept it, instead. So she did.
"Create the best issue, Miss Haruno. And teach him a lesson."
Guessing that his now absent brother already filled him in, the moment she comes out, she says "I'm sorry."
"It's fine. I… feel less responsibility on my shoulders now, being the managing editor. It's obvious I cut less ice compared to my brother," he says. Before she could say something, he offers a hand.
"Congratulations. And good luck, you'll need it."
She takes it.
Sakura as a boss was… weird was a mild way to put it.
She would dial him on the phone just to chat or ask him to bring her coffee. And he couldn't complain.
This day, she asked the boys to come up with five influential men and the women for their five power women.
For the men, they came up with…
1. Naruto Uzumaki of the Fire Country
2. Kakashi Hatake of the Fire Country
3. Gaara of the Wind Country
4. Choujuurou of the Water Country
5. Darui of the Lightning Country
For the women, the list was composed of…
1. Hinata Hyuuga of the Fire Country
2. Temari of the Wind Country
3. Mei Terumii of the Water Country
4. Kurotsuchi of the Earth Country
5. Samui of the Lightning Country
Under the new editor-in-chief, everything was fluid. There were no complications or objections, Sasuke noticed.
"How do we get all of these people to come?" he asked.
"Through the number of connections I have, Sasuke. Half of these people are my friends. I'll leave the rest of you guys to hunt them down and get them to sign a contract," she smiled.
"Naruto, Kakashi! Hi!" Sakura exclaimed.
"Yo, Sakura," the grey-haired man greeted.
"Hello, Sakura!" the blonde one yelled, as if he was talking to a person from another planet.
She ordered him to sit down as he shook hands with the rest.
"So, I'm sure you've heard the news. I am an editor-in-chief now! And… I'd like to feature you in our magazine," she fished out two folders then flipped them open to reveal papers with printed words and two signature lines on the bottom. "If you don't sign these, we'll see if you guys can still read your R-18 books or eat ramen," she grins wickedly.
The men gulp then say "Okay," as they sign the contracts. After that, they come out and she says "Two down. The Sand people are next!" with a big smile.
Sasuke actually worried for those people.
It turned out that Sakura didn't actually threaten these people. Instead she asked them nicely.
"Congratulations on the promotion, Sakura!" the girl with the sandy blonde hair says.
She mutters a 'thank you' before explaining to them their purpose. Sakura hasn't even said one 'please' but they were signing already.
"Are you sure of your decision? She can be quite… scary," he informed.
"Yes, we are sure. Sakura is trustworthy," Gaara said.
Said girl smiles at him then smirks at Sasuke's unbelieving expression.
"Hey, Sasuke. Come with me!" she says, dragging him along.
"Where are we going?" he retorts.
"We're eating ice cream in celebration!" Sakura giggles.
He almost fainted. Almost. He'd never eaten ice cream ever in his life. And now he's about to eat it.
Sakura asks for a vanilla one with strawberry syrup. Typical. She forces him to get one too so he asks for the dark chocolate flavor.
She laughs at his annoyed expression, glaring at the blessing in front him.
"Just eat it! It's good."
"How can I be sure of that?"
"Wait. You've never eaten ice cream before? Do I have to force-feed you?"
He shakes his head distastefully then scoops out a spoonful to his mouth. Surprisingly, it wasn't as bad as he expected. Maybe because the flavor wasn't too sweet for his taste.
"How's it?" she asks curiously.
"Good enough," he shrugs.
Sakura then proceeds to tell him to get used to it since they will be coming often. His blood lurched at the pink-haired editor's words
"Father, you called?" the youngest asks.
"Sasuke, what does this mean?" the father said.
He stares at the paper handed to him presenting a picture of Sakura dragging him to the ice cream place with a headline he'd rather not read.
"She forced me to," he explained.
His father was about to say something when Mikoto Uchiha arrived. Saved by the mom.
"Sasuke! How's my young man doing?" the mother asks. When he does not respond, she looks at her husband in curiosity. Fugaku beckons with his head and she comes closer, looking at the news. She purses her lips, restraining a smile that was about to creep up her face.
His mother's next question unnerved him.
"Sasuke, do you like her?"
"Thank you for the ice cream, Sasuke," she thanks, smiling.
"I, uh, have something to show." She raises an eyebrow. He then shows a picture of his parents from ages ago, his mother holding his dad's hand whilst dragging him somewhere. Sakura examined it with her green eyes then whistled appreciatively.
"I must say… your dad was hot. And you look very much like your mom."
He ignores this and shows the same picture his father showed to him earlier. He expected her breath hitching, her eyes widening, rejection. But she showed quite the opposite. Sakura grins like she saw puppies while saying Awww!
"It's cute and all, but what is your point in showing me these?" she asks.
He slumps in unbelief. She didn't get it?, he thought.
"If my mother asks you to marry me, know that you can always say 'no'," he says. casually fixing his suit as he stood up.
She blinks as he leaves, just in time for his mother to come in her office.
"Sasuke, I said yes to your mother's offer."
"Thank you."
"What?"
"Trust me, it will be challenging and tiring. Will it be happy? I wouldn't know."
"I've been working under you for years! Trust me, only I know how to handle you."
"Hn."