O2, a naruto fanfic | FanFiction

O₂: I Need Air

Naruto sped up in the direction of H. Tower. The meeting he had with her and the old hag was at 10:00 and it was already 9:30. It wasn't like he really cared about whether or not he was late again, but Sakura-chan had promised to make his life hell if he missed even one minute.

Panting, he just barely managed to get through the train door before it closed. He slumped backwards, his back hitting the now closed door, and attempted to breathe a sigh of relief. When no air came, realized he couldn't breathe at all.

It was then he realized his head was resting against something firm and... muscular? His head snapped up and his eyes met half way amused, but nonetheless irritated, pitch black ones. Shit...

"Uh, I... Sorry!" Naruto tried to scramble away before the taller man could hurt him. Unfortunately for the blonde, the train was packed too full for anyone to move. In attempting to do so he only ended up getting crushed by a decidedly large burly man. The man pushed him into the dense crowd. His mouth and nose filled with some kind of fuzz, most likely from some odd form of clothing. He couldn't breath and most definitely could not move. He struggled desperately, trying at least to get his head at a different angle so he wouldn't suffocate. Fuck, I'm going to die before Sakura-chan can even get to me!

Something shoved him sideways and suddenly he was free to breathe again.

"Hey, can't you see you're suffocating him?" a cold accusatory voice said in Naruto's direction. At first he thought the voice was talking to him but then he turned his head to see the dark eyed man whom he'd originally bumped into, only the man was talking to his would-be murderer. Shifting his gaze lower he realized the thing that had shoved him was in fact the dark eyed man's arm.

The burly stranger looked a bit abashed but he apologized and turned around.

A few minutes passed and Naruto was still staring at his saviors arm.

"If you stare any harder you're going to burn a hole in my arm," the man said dryly.

Naruto glanced up, eye's wide as a deep red hue took over his face. Damn this guy, he just had to be sexy... When he felt his face heat he snapped his head down again and continued his visual dissection of the appendage that rested in front of him. When no reaction from the man came he peeked upward again. The slightest smirk graced the man's lips, as if making fun of Naruto for allowing himself to be pushed around. He bristled at this, but decided not to be rude. After all he had just been saved from a premature and undoubtably painful death by the man.

He could just see it now, "Man Accidentally Suffocated on Train!" He grimaced; no doubt Kiba would get a kick out of that.

After careful deliberation, Naruto reluctantly voiced, "Thanks," and feeling obligated to do so for some reason, "the next stop is mine."

The man spoke, though it could hardly be considered an answer in Naruto's book. "You sure you're going to be okay, dobe? You're still looking a little blue... or should I say red?"

That blew Naruto's fuse, he had always had a short tempter but it seemed it was shorter than usual today, though whether this was due to the mysterious man or not was uncertain. "Why YOU-!"

The man interrupted. "Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke."

Naruto took a huge breath in, as if preparing to shout at the top of his lungs, and then dispelled it. It wouldn't due for him to get mad at this man; he had an irate and potentially fatal Sakura in his near future if he didn't focus on getting where he was going. He cooled his head and spun to face the train doors in anticipation of his quickly upcoming stop.

"Right then, teme," The air behind him got even more discontented from the annoyed presence of the man, "I suggest you take your hand off the door, unless you like being trampled by stampeding herds of office ladies."

The O₂ in the train smirked along with stranger as he watched the blonde scramble. As if the solid ground brought him back, Naruto remembered he was going to be deathly late. He checked the time on his bright orange and black watch. Shit, shit, SHIT! How the hell am I supposed to get there in less than five minutes?! The brunette out of his mind, he scrambled to get his bearings. He was running through all the short cuts, alley ways, and people the in the area whom he knew in his head when an amused voice spoke, "Need a ride?"

Naruto stopped in his confused tracks, not turning around. After what just happened, he had been unconsciously rejoicing at the highly likely possibility that he would never see the man again. But Naruto didn't find himself with any other options.

He liked his job; No matter what he said and how late he was, and Sakura had said something about a new business partner. If he was getting assigned to a business partner, either he'd got demoted or said business partner was important. Very important.

Agh! When it came down to it, he really had no other choice. He answered quickly and succinctly, "I'm going to the H. Tower."

Naruto carefully inspected the interior of the black sports car, mentally smacking himself for not checking before hand what kind of car it was. No matter what she was, she was doubtless one of the most beautiful cars he'd ever seen, much less had the privilege of riding in.

He didn't want to speak to the man but some things were worth cheating on his ego for. Reluctantly he voiced his question, "What is this...?"

Sasuke had to look over to what Naruto was pointing at before he understood. Following the direction of the gesture he saw Naruto's finger was pointed downward at his seat. "2010 Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano." He answered, turning his head back toward the road.

Naruto's eyes lit like fireworks at a festival. "She's brand new then," It was a statement, not a question, "and she's quite the tank." His full attention was on the car, running his hands over the hand stitched leather, inspecting every inch of her. If the car had been a woman he would have been undressing her. Abruptly he punched the leather, drawing Sasuke's immediate attention and annoyance. Spying the raven's look Naruto grinned, "Is this kangaroo leather? And damn, you've got bullet proof glass on this thing." The blonde had just tapped the glass.

This shocked Sasuke but he was careful not to show it. What did a man who rode the subway know about cars? And how could he tell what type of leather the seats were made of? He kept his questions to himself but wondered nonetheless. Who was this man?

On the other end of the conversation, the blonde was wondering the same thing. He was past his fascination with the car for the moment, after all it could never live up to the legacy of his Gama-chan, so other things nagged at his mind. This man had had his car delivered to him by what Naruto could only assume to be a driver. Who would bother driving themselves if they had a driver? No, that was a stupid question. Why would anyone entrust their Ferrari to someone else? This he understood, but it brought him back to the more abnormal question. Why did someone who had just taken the train then step directly into one of the most expensive cars in existence?

Naruto spied the H. Tower in the distance and it reminded him yet again he was all but dead if he didn't get where he was going in the next, he glanced at the clock. Two minutes, he thought. He started to give his savior instructions to leave him on the curb but the man proceeded straight to the parking garage and gave his name to the lady attending the entrance booth. She immediately rose to take his keys from him, blushing a tad while doing so.

"Get out, blondie." The raven stood hunched over, glaring at him through the car door.

Said blonde just stared at him, aghast. "You didn't have to park for me..."

"I didn't," The man replied blankly, "now get your derrière out of my car."

Naruto clambered to do just that and when they'd reached the doors of the building he muttered an awkward goodbye. Once inside the building he went straight to his favorite receptionists desk, "Hey Moe-chan, mind calling up to Ms. Pink and Perfect to tell her I'm here so she won't hold the one minute elevator ride against me?" He clapped his hands together and bowed pleadingly despite knowing he'd get what he wanted.

The receptionist smiled and picked up the phone, "I suppose I just heard there was something important going on today, and figured I'd let her know you're here?" His request wasn't really that new.

"Yes, please." He raised his head over clasped hands and gave her an apologetic look, starting to jog toward the elevator. The doors were closing and he barely made it in time to shove his arm in between. The man the doors revealed was beginning to feel like his doppelganger. A wave of mischief over took him, and it took his inhibitions with it. All of a sudden he felt like he'd known the man before him for years, and he didn't think long enough to question his feeling. He slammed his button, not noticing it was already lit. Letting the hand fall against the elevator wall, he simultaneously struck a sexy pose. "I know I'm beautiful, but really, you shouldn't stalk me-"

"I wasn't stalking you, you came in the elevator I was riding remember? And I could say the same thing to you." A sinister and amused face challenged him.

Naruto couldn't resist the challenge and he gave the man a cheeky "Che, sexy is as sexy does." He conveniently failed to notice that the man was already doing a pretty good job being sexy by just existing, mostly because the man had no such effect on him.

"I spend plenty of time doing sexy people." The man said matter-of-factly, studying his nails disinterestedly.

Naruto sputtered at him, earning a smirk from the man, though he still didn't make eye contact. It was apparent he was purposely faking disinterest. The man wanted Naruto to notice, it was his way of engaging in the conversation.

Just then the elevator doors opened and man with large red fang-like marks on either side of his face stepped in. "Kiba!" Naruto shouted, jumping out in front of him.

Kiba's eye's widened a bit and then he gave Naruto a humongous toothy grin, a light blush grazing his face. There was only one thing in this world that caused that expression on Kiba, only one person more like. A certain black haired, shy, buxom beauty.

Throwing a glance at the floor they were on then looking back to Kiba, he punched him on the shoulder. "Don't think I don't know what floor she's on? You underestimate me! You asked her didn't you, you lucky dog!"

"I didn't ask her out!" He said indignantly, "just asked if she'd come this Saturday."

They were rapidly approaching the top floor. Naruto's eye's narrowed and he got that look on his face, the one the meant he was up to no good. He cocked his head to the right just enough to see the man out of the corner of his eye, the man's smile had disappeared and he looked like he wasn't paying attention at all.

He shot a mischievous glance back at Kiba before taking a step backwards. He now stood right next to the black haired man. Imitating the man's indifferent pose perfectly he said, "You're sexy right? You said so yourself. Club Oxygen, Saturday, Meet at nine. If you're man enough to dance with me that is. Tell the bouncer you know Uzumaki Naruto-" And with that he stepped out of the elevator.

Kiba went his direction and Naruto went his. Naruto didn't notice that the other man was tailing him. After all, he was on... Mission: Do not Lose Job.

He checked in for a second time, this time with the top-floor receptionist. Singular, because the president always needed at least one assistant, and no one but Shizune or Sakura was trusted by her to handle anyone who was about to meet with her; they tended to be touchy; important and touchy.

At the moment, Shizune was assuming that duty and the second she saw the elevator open she nodded, holding out a folder of papers and then tilted her head towards the door of the president's office. He pulled a fly-by, bowing slightly, grabbing the folder, and opening the door, all without stopping.

"I'm here Sakura-chan." He said, not bothering to look to see if she was even there, giving all his attention to Tsunade, the companies president. She was sitting behind her desk, hands clasped in front of her, looking particularly serious.

"NARUTO YOU'RE LAT-" Sakura screamed, but she fell short when she checked her watch. He didn't have to ask if he was late or not. He had a mathematical brain. Well, he'd trained it to be mathematical. "… Ah, uhh..."

Tsunade took over, "I believe you've picked up on the fact that today's meeting isn't like the others," Naruto nodded and she continued, "As you know the company is doing extremely well, stock is up, and profits are soaring. There is almost no one that can match us in what we do, seeing as we do nearly everything... and if we could eliminate those who can compete with us, we could control the entire Fire Region market."

Naruto was confused at this. Tsunade didn't play dirty, not when it came to official business, and their only competitors were very legit. So how the hell were they supposed to take them down? He didn't think the boss would lower herself to corporate espionage.

"... and I would like you to be the correspondent." Naruto had been too busy thinking to actually listen to how she was going to make the market theirs.

"What?" He said confusedly.

"I said, in light of this I have had numerous meetings, and decided that H. Company will merge with Uchiha Inc. With full consent from both parties and I would like you to the correspondent; the person who coordinates the whole thing, reporting to me of course."

Naruto stared at her for quite a few minutes. His expression hadn't changed since he'd asked what was going on, down to the slightly raised hand at his side. Sakura began to wonder if he would need medical attention, since she saw no signs of breathing. But all life-threatening things had to come to an end at some point, and it seemed as if Naruto's instincts overpowered his utter shock. Uchiha... I could have sworn I heard that somewhere else today...

Wait a second…

"WHAT?!" Finally running out of air and willpower, he repeated his earlier question slightly more enthusiastically this time. "But you... b-but I-I," He pointed to himself, "No. No, no, no, non, nun, neu, niet, nai, never! I love this company just the way it is, there is no way I will change it for more profit. It's not like we need any more money! I-I just..." Naruto began reciting every reason not to merge he could think of that didn't involve the Uchiha name. His mind was jumbled but could at least tell him that there was a reason that Uchiha man had been going the same place he had. Arg! I hate it when I'm so slow! Why didn't I notice sooner?!

Sakura, smiling, stepped in front of him and slammed her fist on the table. It must have been a fairly gentle punch because the desk was still intact. That or the old lady did some mean reinforcing. "You 'just' what, Naruto? You just forgot that despite the revenue we'd be making, we could have enough to pay for all our employee's to have open heart surgery twice over? That we could build a new building with a day care for employee's with kids? We do all kinds of amazing things here, so it's time we start making it nice for all the people that make it possible... or did your motto change?"

Naruto grimaced as he remembered his motto, protect your people and your people will protect you, he had made it up years ago and always did his best to stick by it. Sakura challenging his commitment to it brought him back to the reality of the situation.

He weighed the pros and cons in his mind. Uchiha Inc., no matter rumors, did clean business, if not clean politics. If the companies merged, they would have to build a new building, as neither of the current ones could hold the gross amount of employee's they had and this new building could offer more amenities then either of them did now. With the minds at Uchiha working the minds at H., they could make their product and services twice, even three times as effective as they were now. On the other hand he would likely have to work with that man, but then, was that really so bad? He was eye candy and Naruto needed some, especially since Kiba had gone over to the gray-scale. Rainbows were so much better. In the end he had to admit, the cons were nothing in comparison to the pros.

The old hag, appearing to have felt like she'd given him enough time to think, spoke again. "When the merging process is finished, you will assume co-presidency along side Uchiha's heir. Mind you, the process will likely take years. I think you will be well equipped and ready to take over by then..." She looked at him to see if she had to continue.

Naruto seized the opportunity to speak, and avoid a further lecture, with an idea in his mind. "Fine, I'll do it, under the condition that I get to meet this other future co-president first. If I don't like him, I reserve the right to call the whole thing off." Safety first; If it turned out he completely hated the Uchiha, he could boot him and find some other way to make Tsunade-baachan happy.

Sakura passed Tsunade a paper, which Tsunade read and smirked at. Looking up she said, "Sure, kid." Speaking into her intercom she ordered Shizune, "Bring him in."