Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto/Naruto Shippuden and the whole world.


Chapter 1: Unlucky Day

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Sakura was late for her interview. She ran to the sidewalk, stopped a taxi but someone else got into it. "This is so not happening…!" Sakura gasped. She never thought that this could happen on the day that was considered the most important in her life. She vaguely remembered that morning where she woke up late, forgetting to set her alarm clock the night before and she was mad at her mother for not awakened her. Well, she was deeply sorry and reminding herself to apologize to her mother once she returned.

For now, she had to run towards the bus stop and unfortunately, one of the heels of her newly bought high heels was broken. She almost stumbled. "Damnit!" cursed Sakura. She stopped and instinctively broke the other heel. Now that she wore a flat, she wondered why in the first place she bothered to buy high heels. Silently, she thought it was a total waste of money – and will never listen to her best friend, Ino, on her tips about going for an interview.

As Sakura got on the bus, she sighed in relieve and hoped that everything will go on smoothly there after – until she looked at her wrist watch. "What?!" she said it out loud. She blushed seconds after that, from glares she received from the other passengers. She looked down to her lap, embarrassed. "This is so horrible!" Sakura inner-self screamed. She was half an hour late for her scheduled interview -her first ever interview after graduating- at one of the most prestigious business firm in Tokyo – the Uchiha Corps.

The twenty minutes ride felt like a ride to hell, and each stop that the bus made on its way, made Sakura lose her modesty as she could not stopped cursing in her head. Once the bus reached the destination, Sakura dangerously jumped off the bus and she hurried to the building that was at the other side of the road. When she arrived at the entrance of the grand building, she smiled victoriously, despite many people she had knocked on her way there. Then, she looked at her watch, she frowned. She was not sure if she was still allowed to go on but she was not good in not trying till the last.

Sakura entered the rotating glass door and again, she knocked onto a guy. Sakura stumbled on her knees to the floor, with her files scattered on the glossy marble flooring that she could even saw her own pity reflection on it. "Are you okay?" asked the guy as he outstretched his arms to help Sakura. "Sorry… and thank you" she said. He helped Sakura with the files while they were being eyed by the many people wearing flatly ironed tailored attire, with eyes peering with almost no emotions on their face.

Then something felt like a thunder struck her heart. Her breath caught up in her chest, as she saw a smeared of dark liquid on the shining flooring and the opened cup of coffee lying on the floor from where the dark liquid was coming from. "It's okay… I can get another one later" said the guy, chuckling as to not making Sakura felt bad about knocking onto him and dropped his coffee. However, that was totally not the case! Sakura frantically searched for the tissue she kept in her small purse as she looked down to her neatly ironed beige colored blouse that was now having a splatter of unwanted dark brown pattern on it.

"S-sorry…" muttered the guy as he now, too, saw the stain on Sakura's blouse. "It's… It's fine. No worry…" replied Sakura while unconsciously gritting her teeth. But as she remembered the real reason of her being there, despite the entire ordeal she had gone through, her eyes shot open. She gasped as she made her way to the nearest elevator, leaving the startled guy behind, as he no longer a concern but the interview that she was scheduled to attend an hour ago on the eleventh floor. "W-wait!" Sakura yelled at any soul in the elevator as the door shut on her face. She frantically pressed on the button in hopes another elevator will open up in seconds.

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Somehow, she managed to get to the eleventh floor and rushed out from the confined box as soon as the door was opened. Sakura ran as fast as her feet could carry her and she finally reached a table where a very mannered looking young lady was waiting. As Sakura was desperately trying to catch her breath and talk at the same time, the lady in front of her gave a look of concerned. "How can I help you, miss?" she politely asked. Sakura was struggling with her own breathe. "I'm… I'm having an interview here…" she spurted it out at last, regardless of the lack of oxygen in her lungs.

"One moment please…" said the lady as she got up from her chair and went to the room behind her. After some moment, she came out again, with a smile on her face. "They're waiting for you, miss… for more than an hour" she said. Sakura thought that smiling was unnecessary as she hoped that the lady dropped the last words she just said. She knew that the interviewer was waiting for her for more than an hour. How could in hell she did not know about it. Sakura tidied up a bit although she knew it would not help much, as she could felt the tangles on her high bun she had tied her hair into. She then followed the lady inside.

"This is the last candidate for today, Miss Haruno" introduced the lady before she left. "Good morning…" muttered Sakura as she entered. Three people were sitting across the room shooting an unfriendly look at Sakura. The pinkette took a seat on the chair in the middle of the room. She tried to sat up as straight as possible while not showing them how tense she actually was. The lady in the middle was chubby, in her middle forty, and had thick-framed glasses. She gave an indifferent look upon Sakura. The guy on her right was an average built man, in his thirty, with hair that was neatly combed to the right side; he looks tired. And the last person was a man, oldest of them all. He looked calm and was a small-sized man.

"Miss Haruno?" said the lady in the middle. Sakura nodded to her. "Haruno Sakura, ma'am" she said. "Do you know what time is it now?" asked the lady. Sakura bit her lip. "Yes, ma'am… its 10am. And I'm late…" said Sakura as she lowered her head slightly. The lady snorted. "We've been waiting for you for more than an hour. Luckily you're one of the chosen, and were scheduled for this interview. So we have to push the time of other candidates forward, just to wait for you" explained the lady. It was bitter to hear. "I'm sorry…" muttered Sakura.

"I see that here, you're applying for an editor position…" the lady said as she flipped through the file. "Thus, time management should be essential to you, Miss Haruno" she continued. Every word she uttered regardless of how calm her tone may be, it still sounded like a thunder in Sakura's ears. Inhaling deeply, Sakura forced herself to look into their eyes, shifting in between them. "I've tried my best" said Sakura, cursing herself afterwards for saying those words, since the interviewer raised an eyebrow. "I see… it's shown by the stain on your blouse, miss" stated the man on the right. Sakura gasped as she knew that the coffee stain was totally visible across her chest down to her stomach area.

"Anything else?" asked the lady to the others in the room. They shook their head. "That's all Miss Haruno. You can leave now. We'll give you a call if you get the job" said the lady, smiling. Sakura was stunned that the interview was rather short and brief and was nothing else other than belittling her. She held the urge to cry. "Thank you" she bowed to them as she left the room. Sakura felt a heavy burden was lifted from her chest but another heavier burden was put on her shoulder. She ran a little towards the elevator, while holding in the urge to cry as she walked pass the lady outside the room.

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In the elevator, she cried her eyes out. She sobbed like no one was there to begin with. Few people that were in the same elevator with her were dumbfounded. As the elevator reached the ground floor, Sakura once again rushed out, this time to leave the building. She did not care now if she got the job or not, and was regretting it all since she had gone through hell for coming to the place. She fastened her pace towards the rotating glass door that was the main entrance of the building, located in the middle of the lobby.

Sakura pushed her way through and again, she knocked onto a guy. They both stumbled a little. "Watch where you're going, lady" said the guy in annoyance. Sakura could not contain her discomfort anymore; she cried it out to the guy. "I've had a very terrible day! I was late for my interview and was belittled!" Sakura said in between her terrible sob. But she was not finish yet. Sakura looked at him with misty eyes as tears came running down her cheeks. "And… and… I have stain on my newly bought blouse! And you're yelling at me, you're such a jerk!" she yelled before she ran out of the building.

The guy was stunned and his face turned red from being yelled in public. And when he turned around, as if the time was stopped, everyone at the lobby was literally looking at him, with many expressions on their face. The guy could hear his teeth grinding and his knuckles turned white from the fist he made. However, he made his way to the elevator, still trying to look cool despite all the glares he received. And he could swear that he heard them whispering about him being embarrassed in front of many people. "Damnit!" he cursed under his breath as the image of the pinkette ran through his mind. He practically remembered her without her crying.

The guy reached the highest level in the building and walked towards his office room. A lady, the secretary, got up and bowed slightly to him as he walked pass. "Sasuke-sama, ohaiyou…" she greeted. The Uchiha was rather in a bad mood and did not even look at his secretary but entered his room straightaway. His office was luxurious with a grand taste. Everything was neatly placed and his choice of color shown that he was fond of cleanliness, and to be safe, he chooses dark tone. He sat on his comfy seat and thought of the embarrassment he had just gone through. He never thought that the lady would so bluntly yell at him like that, in front of his own employees.

Then something struck his mind, he called for his secretary. "Rie, come in now" he said. The lady entered. "Yes, Sasuke-sama?" she asked, blush on her cheeks was visible. "Is there an interview going on today?" asked Sasuke. "Yes, on the eleventh floor. What is the matter?" asked Rie. Sasuke looked happy although he did not smile or whatsoever. "Bring me the file with the candidates list. I want to see them now" he ordered. Rie nodded as she went away. Sasuke thought, he could at least know who the pinkette is.

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Sakura returned home and went straight upstairs. "How was the interview, Sakura?" asked her mother. Sakura ignored her question, tried to conceal her swollen eyes from crying so hard before, and went straight to her room. A slam was heard moments later. Mebuki looked at her husband. Kizashi shrugged. Worried, Mebuki went after her daughter. She opened the door silently and slightly, only to see Sakura lay on the bed with face on the pillow. Her shoulders trembled lightly and soft sob was heard. Mebuki thought of going inside and talk to Sakura but stop when she saw the blouse that Sakura wore before was on the floor, with stain on it.

Mebuki silently closed the door. "How is she?" asked Kizashi. Mebuki shook her head slightly. "I think she didn't do well. But whenever she comes down, don't try to bring up the topic!" warned Mebuki. Kizashi nodded rapidly. He knew too well that Sakura will eventually speak up to them when she felt more comfortable.

The night went on with Sakura refusing to come down for dinner. She was locking herself in the room after telling her mother that she had no appetite. She was saddened. Even the text messages from her friend, Ino and Sai was left unread. Sakura fell asleep, sobbing into her pillow.

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The next morning, Sakura went downstairs, to have breakfast with her parents. Both of them looked at each other before greeting Sakura like yesterday had never happened. "Your usual favorite, choco pancakes" said Mebuki as she served her specialty. Sakura nodded weakly. Her eyes were still swollen and trail of tears were visible across her cheeks. "Eat up. I bet you're hungry, since you skipped dinner last night…" said Kizashi, tried to sound as normal as he could.

Sakura reached for the fork and started to eat. The sweet pancakes suddenly taste bland in her mouth due to her sadness. Tears started to puddle in her eyes again. Her parents looked at her in distraught but they would not dare to say a word about the interview. Suddenly the phone rang. Kizashi got up and went to the ringing phone at their hallway.

"Really? She'll be glad to hear this. Thank you so much!" said Kizashi as he hung up. He walked fast towards the dining room. "Sakura, you got the job!" he said cheerily. Sakura was still staring into space, with her hand kept on feeding the pancakes into her mouth. "Did you hear your father? He said you got the job!" said Mebuki. Sakura nodded. "I know… I won't get it—" she muttered but as her parents' words correctly registered in her brain, her eyes opened widely.

"What?! I got it?!" she asked out loud. "Yes, my dear! You got it!" said Mebuki happily. Sakura jolted from her seat and hugged her mother. "Really?! I can't believe this!" said Sakura as she patted on her face lightly. Kizashi too was thrilled, he joined the big hug.


A/N: Hello there! Hope you like it! I've been planning on this story for quite some time and now, here it is! For those who are concerned enough, be clear that I am not doing ANY sakura bashing! I don't consider this as a bashing, since the storyline headed this way. Just stay put, and it will progress further. Leaving a comment is very much appreciated! Or you can PM me for any personal discomfort you have against me. Happy reading!