Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Naruto. The only thing I own is the questionable, slightly clichéd plot that's really only workable in Jack Collins-esque books and fanfiction. Or, Mills and Boons. Anyone heard of them?
Sakura leant back against Naruto's door, face flushed and shoulders heaving, a file of papers clutched in her hands. Naruto raised his eyebrows, pausing in his work. She lifted up a hand and shook her head, motioning for him to ignore her for the moment. He did so. A light tap on the head with something heavy and soft made him blink a few minutes later, and refocus on the pink-haired girl in front of him. She was more composed now, a slight smile on her lips, with eyes that clearly said they wished the smile wasn't there. She opened her mouth to speak, but Naruto beat her there.
" Something happen, Sakura?" He leant back, a grin wide on his lips, his arms linked behind his head.
She looked to the side, blushing slightly. " W-well…you know when you're walking down the corridor, and you see someone walking towards you from the other end? And you both start adjusting where you're walking so that you don't bump into each other, but for some reason you keep mirroring each other's actions and then when you meet in the middle you kind of laugh and blush and walk on?"
Naruto scrunched his face up. " Yes….".
" Well…I was doing that with this green…thing, but instead of walking past each other at the middle, he grabbed me, swung me around a bit and cheered about the Beauty of Love and Youth and how we must Grasp Life By The Horns!" Sakura was panting now, the stress of reliving the apparent nightmare obviously too much for her poor, fragile soul.
Naruto frowned, and leaned forwards. " You mean…with the capital letters and all?" His eyes were almost slits as he pondered what this could mean. Two reality blips in as many days? Improbable. Inconceivable. Utter pish-posh.
" With the capitals and all!" Sakura's voice was near hysterical and Naruto's eyes widened suddenly. A hysterical Sakura was twice more likely to pull out the Finger of Righteousness! He knew this! He had put his business degree to good use and created spreadsheets and scatter graphs and everything based on meticulous data he had Neji collect for him! He leant forward suddenly, his face serious. " For my secretarial mind, it was too much! I almost felt the need to tell him to spell-check and to revise his grammar rules! Capital letters do not go in the middle of a sentence!" She panted, the exertion causing the folder of papers to flop lazily on Naruto's desk.
" Hmm...A green blip in reality who knows no grammar rules and has a fetish for youth." The blond was nibbling his bottom lip, a sure sign he was either hungry or thinking. Sakura waited with bated breath. With Naruto, you never knew. " The answer is obvious, Sakura-chan. It's a time-travelling leprechaun with a fetish for emphasis."
There was silence in the office.
Sakura studied her boss. Tall, muscled, blond and handsome, he sat in his plush business chair as though it was an armchair with a half-read book on the side. Sunlight streamed through the window behind him, illuminating natural highlights and warming the side of Sakura's face. He was, without a doubt, a beautiful, kind man, and it was due largely in part to him that Rasengan was such a friendly and successful business. One of the most powerful men in the business world, and he had just said with complete sincerity that there was 'a time-travelling leprechaun with a fetish for emphasis' on the loose around his building.
Sometimes Sakura despaired.
He stared back at her with the solemn air of a minister at a funeral for someone he never knew and she resisted the urge to waggle her Finger at him. Instead, she said wearily, " Uchiha-sama should be arriving in fifteen minutes. He's ready to discuss the compromises. He also wants more details on our sales records, he said. I've put Neji on it, but Tenten joined him, so..." She trailed off.
Naruto brightened. " Right-o! Just go down there and tell them to steer clear of the cameras, would you? I'm still paying for the last security guard's counselling." In a ruminating tone, " Who knew they could do so much with a slinky and a paperclip..."
Sakura cleared her throat, the sound reprimandingly female in the overly masculine room. " After that, you have a lunch appointment with Sai, a meeting with Neji and a few others of the research team at 1:45. Shikamaru would like to talk to you about the design team, and a new potential employee and product. I scheduled that for 3, as some of the research team like to waffle on a touch. Anyway, after that you have some reports from a factory in Uganda. Apparently there's been a minor rebellion and some of the workers were killed, whilst others trashed some of the equipment."
" I thought we chose the most politically stable countries?" Naruto frowned, the news not pleasing him. He leant back in the chair and crossed his ankles, a blue biro flicking between his fingers.
" We did, but...I'm not entirely sure, Naruto. I'll gather some more information whilst you're with Uchiha-sama, and give you the file to read on your way to Wakanama."
" That's where I'm meeting Sai, is it?" His eyes were focussed somewhere else, and Sakura deduced that he was probably still thinking about the Uganda fiasco. Truthfully, she didn't mind all that much. She would rather Rasengan relocate more of its factories back to Japan, as almost all the large factories these days were in other countries. Japan's industrial workforce had to move with the factories in some cases, meaning whole homes and families were uprooted for a tiny bit more profit for the big companies. Sakura frowned, and watched as Naruto started balancing the pen on his upper lip, eyes crossed as he tried to watch it. She sighed, and nodded.
" Get the manager of the Uganda factory on the phone for 4, would you, please? I'd like all the information present and correct by then. Thank you, Sakura, you can send Sasuke in now. He's been standing outside the door for five minutes now." Naruto said carelessly, attempting to grasp the pen with his tongue now.
She gasped and hurried to the smoked glass doors, hauling them open and gasping again when smoky grey eyes met hers, irritation sparking. " Uzumaki-san will see you now, Uchiha-sama." The tall man 'hn'ed and strode into the room. She heard 'Sasuke, baby!' and a low, muttered 'dobe' before the doors eased shut with a small pff and all sound was cut off. She sighed, and pulled up several memo templates, her fingers flying across the keyboard. She'd eavesdrop another day, Naruto was clearly feeling business-like this morning.
In the office there was an expectant silence, the kind of silence that people got when waiting for a girl to jump out of a cake wearing tassels. Sasuke was not comfortable with this silence. The way Naruto was looking at him, he just knew tassels weren't the farthest things from the blond's mind.
There weren't many things that scared Sasuke Uchiha. He was big, he was strong, and if any spider came anywhere near him, a Death Glare usually scared them six ways to hell. But nipple tassels? Now that was the kind of thing that sent a shiver of pure fear down his spine.
So, to distract himself from the lightly blushing blond, he glanced around the room. Cherrywood desk, state-of-the-art computer, big ass TV in the left wall and a comfy looking couch to the side. The place would look rather sophisticated, Sasuke thought, were it not for the empty ramen packets on the couch and glaringly obvious orange attempts at décor. An orange replication of Andy Warhol's Campbell Soup painting was not nice. In fact, it offended all reason. He was just about to turn around to tell Naruto what a tasteful painting it was (hey, a white lie never hurt anyone, especially when merging two of the most powerful transnational companies in the world), when he realised the blond was inches from him.
" Huwaaha." He stuttered out as he stumbled backwards. Then cringed as he realised what the hell just came out of his mouth. Naruto, for his part, was struggling not to laugh.
After another tense moment, Naruto just let it go, and laughed himself silly. " Hahaha...your face...hahahaha..."
Sasuke glared. But, alas, Naruto was not a spider, and it had no effect. Or maybe the blond was just oblivious to obvious murderous intent. " Look, idiot, I've come here - "
" Not yet you haven't." Naruto muttered.
Sasuke talked over him. " - to tell you that our relationship from now on is strictly professional."
Naruto blinked. " Professional?" A glint came into his eyes.
Sasuke nodded, thankful that the blond hadn't made some kind of lewd joke or, worse, tried to 'persuade' him otherwise. He think he remembered that was how he had ended up on bottom that one night, a lot of 'persuasion' involving flicks of the tongue and maddeningly slow hands. But that could have been a dream.
" As in, I pay you money and you do what I want?" There was an inflection in his voice that was seedy and just smacked of Roxanne and the Red Light District.
Sasuke just stared.
" Sasuke?" The blond was bouncing on the balls of his feet, a dirty grin on his lips. " Sasuke, Sasuke? Is that what you mean? 'Cause you know, I have a bit of cash in my - "
The brunet lost it. " Are you insinuating that I'm some kind of prostitute?!" He seethed, his muscles bunching. Naruto suddenly wondered if he'd done the wrong thing. " That I'd get down on my hands and knees and do anything you damn well wanted for money?! You bastard!" Sasuke had been pressing closer and closer throughout the tirade of rhetorical questions, and suddenly grabbed hold of the lapels of Naruto's suit, shoving him against the nearest wall.
Naruto's lower back jolted and his teeth clacked together. " Unh." Okay, this was definitely a bad idea. " Th-that's not what I mean, Sasuke - "
" You don't have the right to call me by my first name." The brunet was fuming, anger pulsing through his brain and causing a beat to pound in his temples. " Now. We are going to sit down, and discuss the compromises for the merge. Okay?" The slight maniacal gleam in Sasuke's eyes told Naruto that he'd better be damn well okay with it. He nodded feebly, held in a sigh of relief as the Uchiha finally let him go and his feet could touch the floor again. Ah, sweet sweet carpet. How I missed thee...
Sakura heard the thumps in the office, winced and decided now was a good time as any to go and see Neji and Tenten. She picked up a folder of documents that Shikamaru needed and ran for the elevator, skipping in just as the door closed. She smiled at the people in there with her, tried to drown out the tinny music with her own thoughts, then walked hurriedly down to the records room. Truthfully, all the sales information should be on computer, but they had never got round to the arduous task. No one had wanted to do the job, inventing excuses that put Kakashi to shame, and so Naruto had decreed the building a non-smoking zone and left them as hard copies.
The door creaked when she opened it, and rows upon rows of boxes upon boxes stared back at her as if to say 'you will never find your way out of here'. She shuddered. Give her Google any day. She stalked down an aisle, loving the sound her heels made, and hating how the stink of paper messed up the smell of her perfume. It wasn't that she was shallow, she just took a lot of time in making herself look presentable, and hated it when this was messed up. At the moment, her black Armani suit seemed out of place in this room of history, and she couldn't help but feel out of place.
" No...not there..." There was a soft murmur that Sakura's ears, tuned finely after years at an all girls school where gossip was the fare of the day and the only way to pay for lunch, caught easily.
A pant and then, " A little bit to the left." A woman's voice, and terribly familiar. Who was it? Sakura racked her brains as she walked closer to the source of sound.
The booming voice of Neji suddenly broke into Sakura's sleuth-like state. " Is this better?" His voice was slightly strained, from, perhaps, exertion. Sakura stopped cold. Oh, no...
" A..ha. Yeah. Th-that's better." They wouldn't...would they?
" Keep going. That's it. Yeah." Oh, God, they would!
There was a sudden bang and a clap of hands, and Neji's voice once again broke into Sakura's guilt laden thoughts. " Yup. That's the last box. Thanks, Tenten."
There was a light slap as Tenten landed on her feet again, the sound echoing in he empty halls of the records' room. " No problem. Mm, now that we've put that last box back, what do you reckon we..." There was a light giggle.
" No!" Sakura burst around the corner, eyes wide and hands outstretched as though to physically restrain them. The two turned around, surprised.
" Sakura?" Tenten asked, her tone light and enquiring.
" What are you doing here?" Neji's tone was less light, obviously feeling put out.
Sakura took a moment to brush herself down and compose her facial expression. Looking at them with a small smile, she said, " Naruto would like you to please watch out for the cameras this time, as he's still paying for the last guard's counselling." Tenten blushed, and even Neji looked to the side with those freakishly light eyes of his. " Also, we need those sale's records now. Uchiha-sama's upstairs and by the sounds of things, their meeting isn't going...swimmingly..." Sakura trailed off, a worried look on her face. The two onlookers shared an amused look, and then Neji stepped forward.
" Got them here, Sakura. I'll take them up to him now, if you like?"
Sakura was about to nod and say that sounded lovely, but Tenten was giving her the puppy dog eyes and jerking her head to the side a bit. " Uh-uhm. No, no, that's fine, Neji, thank you. I'll take them myself."
Neji looked at her doubtfully, but handed her the big dusty box anyway. Sakura lamented for her Armani suit, and resolved to get Naruto to pay for the dry-cleaning bill. It was his big idea anyway to merge the two companies. There was no benefit that Sakura could see, apart from working together instead of being competitors. Either way, she wasn't looking forward to the change in work ethic and the inevitable job culls. Also, the influction of Chidori's specialised staff. That, most especially, she wasn't looking forward to. What if Naruto found a better secretary than her?
The brunet was frowning, a pen see-sawing in his fingers. Naruto watched. He'd bet money that Sasuke had never played the piano, but Naruto knew he had the fingers for it. " Dobe, stop staring at me. Listen. We're not giving him up. He's the best damn market research specialist in the country and we had to pry him away from - "
" Why won't you have sex with me?" He hadn't intended for the question to come out, or sound so genuinely confused, so couldn't blame Sasuke for the look of befuddlement. He also couldn't blame himself for finding it unbearably cute.
" I mean, it's just sex. " Whose voice was this? Why wasn't his brain functioning? He knew what Sasuke would do! His back still hurt! " We could be professional - " And at this Naruto blushed a bit and seemed sheepish, " - and still have sex every now again. I mean, this is a very tense business. Look at the tenseness in your shoulders. Bet some good ole Uzumaki-lovin' would set that straight in no time - "
" Good ole Uzumaki-lovin'?" Sasuke snorted and even managed to make that look elegant. " Oh, please. You weren't that good." He watched as Naruto spluttered for a bit. " Eloquent, dobe, really eloquent."
"Shuttup! I had you moaning and writhing underneath me! Don't you dare tell me I wasn't good! If you'd known my name, you would've called it multiple times!" The blond was outraged. You could insult him, you could insult his hair, hell, you could even insult his company. But no one, no one, insulted The Beast.
" Yeah, sure. To be honest, I was frustrated after three months in America and needed to release some tension. You had the basics down, but don't go thinking you're so amazing. There was nothing special." Sasuke was lying, but hell if he'd give the blond idiot the satisfaction of knowing just how much of an effect he'd had on the youngest Uchiha. His mind flashed back to this morning, and he bent his head in a pretence of studying the papers to hide the blush.
" What?! Maybe you don't remember, 'cause you were so drunk, but I was amazing. I am amazing. This is obviously just crying out for some sober sex, right here, right now."
" Never going to happen, Uzumaki."
" Wanna bet?"
" I'll bet this guy that you'll never get me in bed again."
" Deal!" They stood up, shook on it, and at the look in Naruto's eyes Sasuke suddenly doubted himself. Then he was pulled forwards, and with an inelegant stumble where his legs connected with the front of his desk and his torso leant at an ugly angle, he fell toward Naruto. Luckily, Naruto's lips caught him. Well, caught his lips anyway.
Sasuke scowled and was about to pull away when the smoked glass door opened, and Sakura walked in, a dusty box in her hands. It fell to the floor with a thump. Three consecutive thoughts resounded in the room. Oh shit.
A/N: And so the plot unravels. You know, I was this close to calling Naruto's little man 'Kyuubi' but then I thought, yeah, Naruto's a beast in bed, but I doubt he's a nine-tailed fox demon. So I just called it the Beast. Any other names for Naruto's little friend are more than welcome. This is 3034 words, so longer than the last. The chapters might get longer as I get deeper into the plot. The plot doesn't really want to reveal itself to me at the present moment though, so, you know...
By the way...thank you for the reviews. you're all rather awesome. And all the story alerts in the first six hours...Pure squee.
