Contract
Chapter One
-Interface-
"I'm sure that there was just a lot of traffic getting down here." A young woman with long ebony hair said, giving the group a smile. There was a gathering of six people, all sitting in the massive living room of the one and only Uchiha Akito. It was a magnificently simple modern home. The room was large, with white marble walls. Specks of black granite littered throughout the stone, giving it a bit of pizzazz. The furniture was angular and black, giving the whole place a nice sleek look.
The back wall was made of all windows, giving a wonderful view of the backyard, which matched in style, and the Pacific Ocean. The redhead next to her gave her a skeptical glance, rolling his dark jade eyes that were slightly shadowed from his troubled sleeping. He was dressed in black slacks and a long sleeved button down shirt that had a vertical line design to it, with a black tie. "A lot of traffic from Bel Air? She said that she would be here at one and it is…" he trailed off, twisting his wrist so he could get a look at his Rolex. "Two forty five."
She looked off, folding her hands in her lap. She had on a modest grey dress that scooped down and stopped just above her knees, but didn't reveal any cleavage. She wore a royal purple sweater over the dress that she didn't button, since she had a thick silver belt fastened around her waist.
Another couple was situated on one of the other sofas, looking more than irritated. There was an older redhead and a pink haired woman, both glancing at one another. The redhead turned his gaze to the other pair, two men who looked very similar to one another. He focused on the elder and bowed his head apologetically. "I am sincerely sorry Sasuke. I told her it was at one." The woman beside him nodded. She was wearing a white dress that fit her perfectly, showing off her form. It stopped just past her knees and was sleeveless, but connected to a beautifully decorative neckline that went around her neck.
"Yes, well…" The dark haired man said sharply, leaning against the back of the sofa. He didn't really have anything to say, he was just irritated that he had to wait. He was wearing a navy blue polo shirt, accompanied with khaki slacks. His dark onyx eyes scanned over the windows, since his back was to the entrance of the room. The other male just stared off, looking bored out of his mind, though there was no emotion portraying on his face.
Minako simply sighed until they all heard the front door close. "Now…Akito…just keep in mind…at least she's pretty." She smiled, looking extremely nervous, since she knew her friend better than anyone else in the room. The younger Uchiha arched a curious brow, wondering why he was receiving this warning. Gaara and Sakura stood, the elder glaring at his daughter in a threatening manner.
"You're late."
"Yeah, well at least I'm here." She snapped. The others stood and Sasuke and Akito turned around, taking in the sight. Sasuke looked absolutely baffled. There in the doorway was a pink haired parade. She was dressed in tight flared jeans with a few tears along her thighs, and a tight black V-neck shirt that revealed some of her flat stomach. Her hair was ruffled, as if she had just gotten out of bed and quickly run a brush through it. She still looked absolutely gorgeous, with perfect proportions and a killer figure that was desired by most. Her pale jade eyes matched that of her father's, while the rest of her looks were similar to those of her mother's. She handed her jacket to the butler and walked in as if it were completely casual to show up to a gathering two hours late. "So, what'd I miss?"
"Absolutely nothing, since we were waiting on you to show up." Sakura said, her tone indicating that she was not happy in the least with her offspring.
"Hn." Akito gave her a once over and then faced forward once more, not particularly impressed. Minako was right, at least she was pretty. Although, he didn't see how this was going to work very well, if she couldn't dress properly for certain occasions. He was taking over his father's company after all, and aside from that, he was a well-known figure in his own field of business.
Minako hurried over to her, giving the rest of the group a smile. "Well Natsumi, I brought your clothes for you, since you wanted them to be dry cleaned, and you were so busy yesterday with…um…helping…orphans. Yes! Orphans, that you forgot to pick them up. Ok well we are going to get her ready and everyone can just converse, we won't take long. We'll be down before lunch is ready…again." She laughed awkwardly, dragging her friend off to one of the guest bedrooms where she had her things.
Gaara just groaned into his hands, trying to keep a reign on his anger. He was going to have to have a long talk with his daughter later, even though it wasn't going to do any good. "I…am so sorry. She usually isn't like this…" he paused, realizing his lie. "Yeah…"
"Guess she gets her attitude from you my friend." Sasuke said, the corner of his mouth tilting up in a rare form of expression, showing that he was teasing the redhead. He just gave his friend a small hint of a smile.
"Yes well…she's very strong willed."
"What's the big deal? I was only a couple of minutes late." Natsumi huffed as Minako raked a brush through her hair and started straightening it.
"No, you were almost two hours late." The long haired woman corrected, fluffing the freshly brushed hair to give it the volume she knew her friend liked. "Your parents are not happy in the least."
She glared at Minako, since she was facing the mirror. "I don't care. They're lucky I'm not moving across the country for this." She snapped, getting up, seeing she was done and walking over to the bed, picking up her clothes. She went into the bathroom and slammed the door. Minako sighed, shaking her head with a small frown.
When she came back out, she was dressed properly for the occasion. She had on a white button up shirt with short sleeves that tied in a bow on the ends. It was tucked into a high, black pencil skirt that came up to the top of her hips and stopped just above her knees, with a slit up the back that stopped a bit away from her rear. Her shoes were a pair of black pumps, the heels about three inches high. "You know, Akito isn't really that bad. Once you get to know him, he's really nice." Minako said, trying to make her friend feel better about the situation.
"Yeah whatever." She rolled her eyes, running her fingers up through her hair. "He told me I was a freak when we were little, and it doesn't look like much has changed. So who cares? At least he's hot."
"Well, I suppose that's one way to look at it." The ebony haired woman said. "I just think you should give this a try before writing the whole thing off based on the past and what you've seen. I mean, how bad could it be?"
Natsumi and Minako walked back out, all eyes turning to them, but mostly Natsumi. Sakura let out a relieved sigh, making a mental note to thank Minako later for her save. The dark haired woman made her way back to her husband and took his offered arm.
Toshiro leaned down, whispering into her ear. "Thank you so much honey. You're a life saver."
"You're welcome. I had a feeling other clothes would be needed." She whispered back, smiling up at him.
The younger pink haired woman took in a deep breath and walked up to the elder Uchiha, offering out her hand. "It's a pleasure to see you again Mr. Uchiha. Sorry I was late."
Sasuke stood and shook her hand. "Hm. Just call me Sasuke." He said.
"Alright." She nodded and then glanced past him at the bored looking man, who wasn't paying any of his guests any mind.
Sasuke turned and gave his son a sharp look. "Akito." He said sternly, getting the other man's attention. The younger Uchiha stood and walked over to his father, placing his hands in his pockets. Turning to face the pink haired woman in front of him, Sasuke said, "Natsumi, this is my son, Uchiha Akito."
"I think she knows my last name father, since it's going to be hers." Akito said, looking from his parent to Natsumi.
She just rolled her eyes, focusing back on Akito. "I see you're as rude as ever."
Sakura smacked herself in the forehead, repressing a groan. "I see you're as narcissistic as ever." He said. "Since apparently you can't read the numbers on a clock, or take into consideration that the world does not revolve around you."
"Oh it doesn't? Sorry, I guess I must have missed the memo and apparently everyone else did too, aside from you." She pointed out, setting her hands on her hips in a challenging manner.
He smirked, taking his hands from his pockets and crossing his arms. "Oh we all knew about it, but unlike you, we consider others, and so decided to wait for you to show up. But, at least now you know, and so have no excuse for your tardiness other than the fact that you're lazy."
She just smirked. "Well here's the good thing, darling, I'm not the one with a reputation to uphold. Since I could honestly care less, so really it's not my problem. I'll be as lazy as I want."
His forest green eyes narrowed at her threat. If she cost him his clients or image, he would strangle her. He had worked too hard to establish himself separately from his father and family to let it all go down the drain because of some girl with freaky hair.
Just then the butler came in and announced that lunch was ready, causing everyone to go into the formal dining room where everything was set up. Wanting to change the subject so that her daughter wasn't making things worse, Sakura smiled across the table at Sasuke. "So Sasuke, how are things with the company lately?"
"Very good. We have been doing better this year than in past ones, and once Akito takes over our basis of clientele will nearly double from his own office." The elder Uchiha said.
They all sat down then, with Sasuke at the head of the table with Akito on his right and Gaara on his left. Sakura sat down next to her husband and Natsumi regrettably sat next to Akito. Minako took a seat beside Natsumi and Toshiro just situated himself beside his mother and across from his wife. "What is it that you do again?" Natsumi asked, not bothering to give the man beside her a glance, but it was obvious she was asking him.
The butler came out, placing the bowls of salad in the center and then giving everyone their individual bowls of soup. "Enjoy," he bowed out, leaving them to themselves. Natsumi reached forward and grabbed the bowl of salad and placed some on her plate, beginning to eat, actually deciding to use proper table etiquette.
"I'm a lawyer." Akito said, breaking up some crackers to place in his soup.
"Uh huh." She said, rolling her eyes once more. So he was one of those guys. "So…you're a liar." She asked, finally looking over at him.
He glanced at her as he mixed in his crackers. "Ch. I have never had to lie in order to win a case, but think of it however you wish, I don't care." He said, looking back to his soup.
Gaara cleared his throat, swallowing before he spoke. "You know Akito, Natsumi has a Ph.D."
"In what?" he asked, looking at the redhead as he took a bite.
"Cardiology and Pulmonology. She specializes in surgery." He replied, getting a scolding look from his daughter.
Akito gave the man a skeptical look. "And yet she doesn't work."
"She did for a while." Sakura chimed in, trying to save face for the younger pink haired woman.
"So she quit." The younger Uchiha said, wanting to grasp the situation.
Natsumi decided it was time to interject. "Yes. I didn't want to work anymore. I already made more than enough money and if I wanted to go and do it again I could. Simple as that." She said quickly, looking grim.
Toshiro just watched his sister before speaking. "But she was very good."
"I'm sure." Was all he said, moving his bowl out of the way so that his food could be set in front of him.
The rest of the meal went pretty smoothly, since Akito and Natsumi hardly said a word to one another. Finally, dessert was brought out and offered and they all ate in silence, until Sakura tried to liven up the mood. "I remember when you were all little, you were all so cute. Natsumi, do you remember the first time you met Akito? He was the most adorable little boy, just like my Toshiro." She smiled.
Natsumi's gaze slanted into a glare. "Yes mom. I remember. He said my hair was a freaky color and that I looked like a raccoon."
"You still do." Akito said with a smirk.
She set her hand down, placing her fork back in its place on the setting. "Excuse me?" she asked, turning her body to give him a full on glare. Before Akito could open his mouth and burn another bridge, Sasuke coughed and looked to his son.
"Akito. Didn't you have something you were going to give Natsumi?"
"Oh yeah." He said reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small black box made out of velvet. "Here." He sat it in front of her, not really caring. Gaara and Sakura almost fell forward, the lack of chemistry between the two was almost unbearable.
Natsumi picked it up wordlessly, opening it to see a beautiful diamond engagement ring. The band was made out of white gold, with a large, round diamond in the center. Surrounding it were tons of smaller diamonds in two bands. They crossed in the front, and the line continued down the front of the ring. There were also two lines of diamonds going down the sides of the ring, so that the entire thing sparkled when held in the right lighting. It was large enough to draw attention to it, but small enough to be considered elegant and not gaudy. For Natsumi, it was the perfect ring.
Despite how beautiful the ring was, it looked condemning, especially since he had just handed it to her as if he were giving her something as simple as an address. "Thanks…" she said, pulling it out and placing it on her finger, examining it further.
"It looks lovely." Minako said with a smile, trying to lighten the mood.
"Yeah, I guess." She sighed, placing her hand back in her lap. "If you'll excuse me." She moved the chair back and set her napkin down, walking out of the room as quickly as she could.
Sasuke hit his son over the back of his head, causing him to glare at his father. "What?"
"Idiot." Was all he said.
Holding in a sigh, Akito stood from the table and followed Natsumi's path from the room. He looked around, and found her on his back patio. Opening the door, he walked out and stopped just a ways behind her. She was standing near the edge, just before the grass, holding the ring between her fingers, watching it sparkle in the sunlight. "What's wrong?" he asked, genuine concern seeping into his voice.
She glanced back, hearing his voice and replaced the ring on her finger, before she turned around. "Nothing is wrong." She said, keeping her voice even. "I just needed get some fresh air."
"Natsumi, the reason I'm a good lawyer is because I can read people really well." He told her. "And, if we're going to be married, it would be best if you just told me straight up when you're upset. It would make things easier."
A small, but dark, smile crept up her features. She walked up to him and stopped, staring up into his face. "Okay." She paused, leaning closer. "I don't want to marry you. At all. And the last thing I am going to do is make anything easy for you, jerk." She moved around him then and went back inside, not wanting to hear any clever retort he may have had.
His brow creased as he watched her go back inside, and was still there when he re-entered the dining room and joined everyone once more. He didn't really understand what he had done wrong. It wasn't like he wanted to marry her either, but it was what his father wanted, and it would bring together his father's company and Gaara's. And he wasn't going to go out of his way to make her life miserable, he was going to try and make her happy. Because eventually they would have to have children and he wanted them to get along, for the kids. He personally never met his mother, but he knew they were important in a kid's life, and so wanted them to grow up without parent issues.
"So Akito, when do you want us to send Natsumi's things over?" Sakura asked. For her entire life she had lived with her parents, but now that she and the young Uchiha were engaged she could move in with him.
"Whenever is convenient for her, just let me know the date and time so that I'm present while the movers are coming in and out." He said.
"Why not tomorrow?" Gaara asked, placing his napkin down, since he was finished with the meal.
Natsumi went a bit wide eyed, "Tomorrow…but that's like…less than twenty four hours away."
Toshiro gave his sister a sympathetic look, "Sumi, the sooner is usually the better."
"The sooner the better? This isn't happening to you Toshiro! You have no idea how I feel about this!" she snapped, actually yelling and making them all look slightly surprised. She stood up once more and headed back for the room. "I gotta get out of here." She said, mostly to herself. She changed back into her clothes quickly, walking out and taking her jacket and keys from the butler. Minako ran up to her, looking as if she was having a panic attack.
"Natsumi, what are you doing?"
"I have to leave Minako or I'm going to go crazy." Natsumi said seriously, walking out the front door with her friend on her heels. The valet had already brought her mode of transportation to the front of the house and was holding her helmet out to her. She pulled on her jacket and then took the protection. She got onto her red Ducati Superbike and started the engine, glancing over to see her brother and even Akito beside her friend. "I'm not backing out." She informed him, "I'll be here tomorrow. But I have to go." She put her helmet on then and took hold of the handles, shooting off before anything more could be said.
Akito sighed and looked at his best friend. "I still don't think this is going to work." He said.
Toshiro just shook his head and placed his hand on Akito's shoulder. "I think things might get tolerable after she gets moved in and you guys are forced to be with each other all the time." He smiled, trying to show the Uchiha a slightly brighter side. "Hey, why don't we got to The Infinity tonight and get something to drink. It'll help you relax."
"Why not? I need a drink after this terrible day." He said, smiling humorlessly.
Toshiro and Akito sat at the bar, waiting for their drink orders. "Well…think of this. At least you're getting married and you'll have a nice trophy wife."
"I guess. But it'd be a hell of a lot easier to just find some simple minded woman to hang off my arm for business events instead of having to be with someone who doesn't even like me." Akito said.
"But this way, at least you know she's not after your money." He pointed out, giving him a small smile. His dark jade gaze shifted and then locked back on his friend's deep green. "Well if you're looking for some pretty little thing to hang off your arm, there's three right over there who can't stop staring at you."
Someone sat down on the other side of Akito at the bar. She had golden blonde hair and a tight black dress that clung to her every curve and dipped low, giving him a nice view of her perfect and large breasts. "Hi, my name's Karen." She said, biting down on her lower lip as she traced her manicured nail down his arm. "You look pretty bored over here by yourself."
Akito looked over at her, his gaze still impassive. "Hm." He said. "Sorry, but I just got engaged today, so you're out of luck." He told her.
She frowned, giving him a small pout. "If you just got engaged, then how come you're here with your friend instead of with her? Hm?" she asked, arching a delicate brow.
"Cause' she doesn't like him." Toshiro pointed out for the woman.
"What is she, stupid? Because I don't see anything that's not to like." She said, obviously checking him out.
Akito frowned slightly. "Regardless, you efforts to gain my attention are futile, so you might as well move along." He told her, facing forward as his beer was set in front of him.
She made a face and got up, walking off, obviously pissed her attempts had failed. Toshiro took the handle on his own glass, downing the contents. "What did I say, if you aren't getting any, you have plenty to choose from."
He sighed. "I'm not really the type to cheat, regardless of the fact that we don't really like each other or want to get married." He took a drink. "And I can't believe you're trying to encourage me to cheat on your own sister."
Toshiro just rolled his eyes, "I'm just saying Akito. You're my best friend, and having sex with Minako really takes a lot of the stress off, and it's so nice. A man needs to have sex. We just have to. And my sister is crazy, so if she doesn't like you, why would she care where you get it? You're just one of the unlucky ones who didn't get to marry for love."
Akito pointed at his friend. "Yes, but because she is crazy, if she ever finds out about my trysts, which most likely, she will, she'll go berserk and be all hurt and stuff, and it will be all my fault. You know it's true. And then she'll go crying to your dad, and he'll get mad at me, and I would rather not have to deal with all that crap." He said. "Besides, we'll have to have kids eventually, in order to have someone to take over the company, and so I'm sure at some point in time we'll have sex. Maybe."
"Well, you know how these days they have that invitro fertilization thing. So…you never know. I hope all the sex you had before now was worth it. Cause' if you're going to be faithful, it's going to be a long time before you get it again and that's only if." He snickered and finished off his drink, ordering another. "God that would be horrible."
"My life sucks." The young Uchiha whined, hitting his head on the counter. Then he sat up and downed the rest of his beverage, ordering something a bit stronger. "I don't get it. Tons of women think I'm attractive, and I know I am, but your sister doesn't seem to be affected by it at all. Every woman is in some way or another, I mean, just look at me." He said, gesturing to his form. "I'm one of the best things on this planet." He smirked.
Toshiro snickered and raised his glass to him as he received his new drink. "I do have to agree my friend. You could have any woman you wanted in a crowd unless she were married and very strongly committed to the man. I don't doubt you could get someone to cheat on their husband, but you," he pointed, "have never had to woo someone who is on equal ground. She's from a rich family, and you know we all think we are the center of the world. She's smart and witty, and she's just as good looking as you. Nor does she have insecurities that you can play off." He paused and took another drink before continuing. "This, my friend, will be the hardest thing you have ever done. Much harder than any case you've ever had to win."
Akito grimaced. "I hate women. I really do. Though, I don't know if this will be as hard as the case I'm currently working on. It's just the beginning of the trial process, and already it looks like it's gonna be a long one. It's the last case I'm going to work before fully taking control of Uchiha Corp."
"That big huh?" the red head asked curiously.
"Yeah. I can't really go into full details, since the case hasn't started yet, and there's that whole client confidentiality thing, but it looks like it's gonna be hell." He finished off his scotch. "But, I do love a challenge, so the next few weeks of my life are going to be extremely interesting." He said with a wry smile.
Toshiro nodded. "Oh I can assure you, it will be."