A new beginning

At the Uchiha Company chatters could be heard everywhere. People found out about the upcoming meeting with Haruno Company. Everyone heard the same thing: that the CEO has changed. All of them wondered who was going to lead the Company. 3 more hours until the meeting will start.

Fugaku and his sons Itachi and Sasuke were waiting patiently in their offices for the upcoming meeting. They didn't get any notice regarding canceling the meeting so they assumed that the offer was still up. But they didn't know who they were going to partner with. Yes, the main idea was to get the two companies together and their power will double around the world. But who was going to lead Harunos?

"Kizashi was a gread leader." said Fugaku to Itachi.

"Yes he was."

"Do you have any idea who took his place?" his father asked.

"No. From what I heard someone close and who knew how he was doing his job is going to take his place, though I am not sure about that." replied Itachi.

"Well then, let us find out."

Two hours later Fugaku, Itachi and Sasuke we're waiting in the meeting room for the next CEO of Haruno Company to sign the papers. And they didn't wait long. When they saw who opened the door they froze. Fugaku looked at his two sons wondering if it's a joke.

"Good afternoon. My name is Haruno Sakura. CEO of Haruno Company. Nice to meet you, Uchiha-san." the pink haired girl looked at Fugaku and stretched her hand to shake with him.

"Is this a joke?" Sasuke Said.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I came here to continue my father's work. So Uchiha-san are you still willing to sign the papers?" asked Sakura. She first looked at Fugaku and Sasuke, then she finally looked at Itachi who was clearly speechless.

"What are you doing here Haruno-san?" Itachi asked as if he didn't hear her previous statement.

"Didn't I make myself understood Uchiha-san?" Sakura kept eyeing Itachi.

"Wait a second. I thought you didn't want to continue your father's job. You said so." Fugaku looked at Itachi now.

"I did say that. But now I have my reasons. Now Fugaku-san, back to my question. Are you still willing to partner-up?" Fugaku didn't know what to say. Letting a little girl lead half of the company was a bit awkward. "I need to talk to Sasuke and Itachi first." Sakura already knew he was going to say something like that but she didn't blink. Not even once.

As the Uchihas reatreated for a few minutes to discuss the matter regarding Sakura, she just waited for them in patience. When they finally came back she knew they wouldn't accept her. If it was her father yes, but not her.

"Alright. First of all Haruno-san, we think that you're still not ready to take the lead over the company right now. We believe that you should get more knowledge about our company." Fugaku tried to say more but Sakura interupted them.

"So you're saying that you don't want the partnership?" she asked.

"Well, you being Kizashi's daughter, we believe you can surpass him in time. But you're still young and..." he didn't finish the sentence.

"Alright I got it. There's no need for you to say anymore. I already knew you would say something like that." Fugaku took a fast glance at his sons.

"Haruno-san...Don't get us wrong." Itachi intervened.

"May I say something?" asked Sakura.

"Go ahead." replied Sasuke obviously annoyed.

"Alright. Let me show you something. After reading a bit about your company in the last two days, I found out some things. Things that you haven't noticed regarding your managers. Did you know that the past two years the income from half of your sales dropped? Not really dropped but they weren't registered entirely, and that's only because the managers you have have been stealing from you. If you don't do something in time of an year they will dry you out of your income. The real one." She said showing them on the projector some statistics. Sakura looked at Fugaku and Itachi who were obviously annoyed. She knew their feeling. For an outsider to find out in such a short time a thing like this was not right.

Fugaku moved his eyes from the wall to her. As for Itachi he was simply stunned. He didn't expect from her something like this. It was like stabbing them from behind. Sasuke whispered something to his father and left the meeting room. Sakura clearly understanding their situation couldn't stop talking.

"I didn't tell you this to make you feel bad. I was just stating the truth. What I am saying is that if you partner up with Haruno Company, you will not have to worry about that. I still know that Uchiha Group is much more powerful than it shows. Uchiha-san, if you don't do anything regarding this I am afraid...the Company will go bankrupt only because of those people." finished Sakura.

"Hm...Very well Haruno-san." Fugaku bent over the papers and signed them. "I expect big things from you. From now on you're on the leading side." he said before leaving the room.

"He's clearly not satisfied with what I just told him. Right?" she said as if asking someone. Itachi was still there.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" he said clenching his teeth.

"I am just doing what my father would have done." she replied.

"So you think you can just come here and take his place? Haruno-san, you're not as clever as I thought. You'd better not get your nose in what doesn't concern you." said Itachi with a cold voice.

"Do you have something against me, Uchiha-san?" Sakura's coldness could be heard. "What problems you have with the fact that I took my father's place?"

"Well, let's say I expected someone more appropiate for this kind of work." he was impassive.

"You don't even know me Uchiha. Your father was the one who decided to sign the papers after all. You don't have a single word in that. And don't worry because I will take care of things here. You can rest assured." saying these Sakura left the room, leaving Itachi on the same spot emotionless.

"We'll see what you can do." thought Itachi to himself.

After the meeting, Sakura went home to rest for the upcoming days. It was going to be hectic at the company from now. Sakura couldn't take her mind from Itachi and the face he made when she told them those things. She was not welcomed at all, that she could notice from their reactions.

"You're home?" a boy's voice asked from behind her room's door.

"Yes Ren. Are you hungry?" she asked undressing from her work clothes.

"Yes. I am waiting for you to eat." he replied. Sakura took a pair of black shorts, a white t-shirt and a black hoody from her wardrobe. "What do you mean?" she asked meanwhile opening the door.

"I made the food today." Ren smiled at her, but he saw she wasn't in a good mood. She was gloomy. "Did something happen?" Ren asked.

"No. Let's go." he didn't believe her at all. They ate in silence. Ren still wanted to talk to her about a lot of things, but he knew she already had too many to bear on her shoulders. Having to take care of him, of the company and the family matters was not as easy as he thought. After finishing Sakura rose from her seat and took a pair of shoes for running.

"I will be back in about 2 hours, Ren." she waited for her brother to answer but didn't hear him say anything and just looked at him. "Is something wrong?" she asked again.

"No. Be careful by the way. A storm is approaching." he replied to her. In exchange Sakura only nodded and exited the building. Their compound was not something extremely big, only a mansion with 5 rooms, 1 kitchen and 2 bathrooms. The garden behind the house was magnificent because of their mother who loved flowers. Sakura used to like them too, but since their mother died she hadn't taken care of it as it was bringing back too many memories. Instead they were taken care of by Ren. He just couldn't let the flowers wither losing all their beauty. Sakura looked at the garden and gave a sad smile.

And so she began to run. The rain began to drop but she didn't care. Neither did she go back. Sakura just kept running thinking about various things. But she still couldn't erase Itachi's cold gaze from her mind.

"Uchiha Itachi, huh?" she leaned on a wall and drank a bit of water and continued to run.

2 hours passed since Sakura left the house and Ren began to worry. The storm increased and was harsher than before. He heard the door close.

"I thought you got lost somewhere, nee-chan." he said knowing that it was her.

"As if I would." sakura was sweating a lot and the water was pouring on the ground from her wet hair and clothes.

"These files came for you from the Uchiha Company. They said they wanted you to watch over them until tomorrow's meeting." Ren said.

"Ok. I will take a bath and take a look at them after. Just leave them on the table." she said climbing the stairs to her room and going towards the bathroom. She really needed one after the storm outside. Her hair was all muddy but she didn't really care about.

Ren on the other hand was staying in the kitchen staring at the counter where the food he made just a while ago was resting and waiting to be eaten. "Guess not today." he whispered to himself.

In her room Sakura took off her clothes as she was looking at the files on the mini - counter. "Another issue I have to take care of. Can't they just figure this problems of theirs on their own?" She moved her eyes to her window to see that the rain is not going to stop soon. "I guess life's like this. Nothing we can do about it." After a few more seconds she went into to bathroom and washed her muddy body. 30 minutes passed until she knew it was high time she got out of bath. She had something to take care of before going to bed. She went out and got dressed into her night gown and found her way to the desk. Only a small glance was needed to realise that the numbers she was looking at were way too different than how they should be in reality. "How could they not see this? It's Uchiha Company for God's sake !" she kept visualising all the documents when she finally got to a conclusion. She closed the files and found her way to bed.

"Tomorrow is going to be a hard day." she thought to herself before closing her eyes and falling into a deep nightmareless sleep.

"Ren. Are you ready?" asked Sakura behind his door.

"Yes. Wait a second." he said before opening the door to his room. "I am ready now. Have you eaten?"

"Yes, just a while ago. I figured you wouldn't be able to eat home and made you a package for school." Sakura winked at him. "Todays the meeting right?" Ren asked her.

"Yes. Meeting the Uchiha's is inevitable." she chuckled. "But they still have some serious problems, which are going to be solved today. I am leaving now. Don't forget about your food ok?"

"No worries sis. Take care at work." he replied to Sakura as she was hurrying to get her shoes. "I will." Sakura gave him a smile and left the house.

10 minutes later she arrived in front of the company when see looked above at the high building. "They are not going to like this one bit." Then she entered the building and found her way towars the conference room. There were around 10 people sitting around an enormous table waiting for the new manager to come. And they had a big surprise.

"Hm. This is not a playground kid. You got the wrong room." one of them said to her, but Sakura was just glancing around the room. Then she found them. The three Uchiha's seated at the front of the table, all waiting for her.

"I am sorry to tell you, but I didn't come here to play. My name is Haruno Sakura." She looked at them as they started to whisper to each other.

~whispers~

"Haruno? Isn't that supposed to be our future boss?"

"I heard the one in charge died, and they sent a kid to solve matters."

"Poor her. Her father was a tyrant."

"She is going to take his place? A little girl?"

~end~

"If you have something to say, do it in front of me not behind. From what I know I haven't lost my hearing. Now let's get to business. Like I said I didn't come here to play." She looked at the 3 Uchihas, but only one managed to hold her stare. After a few seconds she spoke again.

"Starting today, you are all fired." Everyone froze. Sakura was expecting something much more than a dead silence. Just when she thought she was wrong, she was actually right. After a few seconds everyone except the 3 began to yell and scream at her.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"A kid like you has no right to do such a thing?"

"Who do you think you are to give such an order?"

"ENOUGH !" She answered to them. "You will have your reason too. You've been in this company for a long time but this is ending here. In the last years all of you stole money from the company using it for your own interest. You stole what was not yours. And this has consequences. As of starting today, I am the new associate of Uchiha Company. Or I should call it Uchiha and Haruno co. I will not tolerate any money embezelments anymore. So like I said, you are all fired."

"Uchiha-san, you know this is not true." said one of them with a scaried look on his face towards Fugaku. However he had an empty look. Then he looked again at Sakura. "It's just like she said. From now on, she will be the one giving orders."

"But..." one of them mumbled.

"No buts. This is my decision and no one is going to change it." Sakura stated as she closed the registry. "You should have stopped when it was still early for you." Standing she gave the Uchihas a nod and continued with her issues. The meeting was mainly on the same problem: managers stealing from the company, failing in doing their job. 30 minutes later people were getting out of the conference room heading towards the caffeteria.

Sakura went towards an elevator as she felt herself a bit dizzy and got inside when it came to her floor. She was glad that she was the only one in it, however just when the doors were about to close someone stepped inside. Sakura couldn't hold back from sighing but then again she was glad it was none of the fired people. Instead was Itachi.

"Mind if I take it also?" he mumbled.

"No." she replied. The silence that gathered after a fraction of a few seconds seemed unterminable. Just when he wanted to ask if she was feeling ok, Sakura opened her mouth to say something.

"Are you going for the caffeteria?"

"No. I have another meeting in a few minutes with some people from the R&D department." Sakura kept looking at him as if she was still waiting for an answer. She looked straigth into his eyes as if to decypher something but she couldn't tell anything. After a while she shook her head awaiting for the answer.

"Did you hear what I said?" he asked her.

"No. I'm sorry, I was thinking about something. What were you saying?" Sakura tried to smile but it didn't work.

"That I have another meeting in 10 minutes. You do realise that firing our managers just made us lose profit?"

"It's not as if they were competent. After stealing from you, you still wanted them here?"

"You can't barge in here firing people however you want, when you want."

"I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't for this issue and you know it Uchiha-san." she replied coldly. "And one more thing."

Itachi wanted to say something but he let her go ahead. "You'd better stop doubting my competences. I might be young but I know everything I need to know regarding this business. Maybe even more than you. Now I will take my leave. I have other departments that i have to attend to." saying these she left the elevator with Itachi stunned.

A few hours later Sakura was exhausted and wanted to go home. She was planning to leave but only after solving the issue with 1 more last department, R&D (research & development). She knew she was going to meet that person here as he was the director of it. But it was now her job to reevaluate all departments on her own. Based on the files she read she could only figure a part of the problems. But there were other problems too. Sakura went along the coridor looking over the door's windows inside the rooms. However she had the premonition that this department was led corectly. And it was expected. After all from what she noticed, Uchiha Itachi was not an indulgent person. She recognized him as worthy of inheriting this company in the future.

There it was the Director's Office. Sakura waited outside for a while before entering thinking about what she would tell him regarding his department. Basically she had nothing to say. Only that he was perfect at what he was doing.

"Temari, please bring me the document we were talking about in the morning." his voice said behind the door. Sakura didn't wait anymore and knocked on the door.

"Enter. That was fast Te..." he rose his eyes only to see that it wasn't Temari who entered but Sakura. "Oh. Haruno-san, still here this late at night?" he asked her not knowing exactly what to say. Either get angry for today in the elevator or to be nice to her.

"I'm finishing inspecting the departments. This was the last one."

"Hm, really? And what is your opinion on this one if I may ask." she could feel his gaze over her waiting for an answer.

"I have to say that out of the entire company this department is the best led. No incompetent people, very rarely mistakes. You're good at leading Uchiha-san. This is what I am going to say." She looked him straight in the eyes. She was a bit surprised when he rose from his seat and went towards her.

"What are you doing?" she asked him when he patted her on her hair.

"Relax kitty. I'm not going to eat you." Sakura blushed to her ears, her cheeks going red close to a strawberry.

Itachi was also shocked at his latest action but he didn't let it show. He found her somehow amusing by blushing like a little girl. Itachi was looking at the pink haired woman in front of him. But he was even more shocked when he saw her eyes tearing.

"Haruno-san?" he wanted to continue to ask her what was wrong but she just shover his hand when he wanted to reach for her chin.

"Stop it." she replied coldly at him. "I'm going now." Sakura turned around to leave but he felt him grab her arm.

"Not so fast." He turned her around to face him and kept getting close to her. "What is it? Why did you get upset all of a sudden?"

"It doesn't concern you." Sakura kept backing down until she felt her back hit the wall. She was caught and she knew it.

"Well since I was the one who provoked that, actually it does. So spit it out."

"You...My father was the only one I ever allowed to pat me on the head. That was his way of showing me affection. And kitty...that's what he used to called me. Now you got your answer so let me go." Sakura tried to get out of his grasp but he didn't let her. For some reason he wanted to smell her hair. He was so sure it smelled of cherries but he was wrong. Just when he was about to lean in to smell it Temari entered the office and saw them.

Sakura pushed Itachi and before exiting the room he adressed him one last reply. "From now on stay away from me, or I swear that I'm going to pull that hair of yours out of your head." she hissed at him the words and left. Temari glanced back and forth at the door and at Itachi taking his seat.

"Hm. What exactly was that?" she asked Itachi. He was the one to allow her to speak informally to him all the time. And Temari was one to be direct.

"A scared kitty. Did you bring it?" he stretched his hand to get the document but it felt as if he was going to wait long and well. "Hm, that was Haruno Sakura? The new CEO of Haruno's?"

"Exactly. Now the documents Temari."

"She looks good. I mean a bit young but she's definitively a woman. Any other girl would envy those curves and that straight long hair."

"Temari!"

"Fine fine. But you have to agree with me on this one." She said winking at him waiting for his answer. Itachi knew that she was not going to leave until he satisfied her curiousity. "OK OK. You're right. She looks good. Now you can leave. I will be staying a few more minutes to check this then I'm leaving too."

"Alright. Then I will be taking my leave. See you in the morning." she finally said before closing the office door. As for Itachi, he was hoping the recent incidents wouldn't make his mind waver from his duties but he was so wrong. He was thinking about Sakura the whole time and couldn't focus on his work. So he just left the office late at night at 1 am.

Alright. Finally the 3rd chapter. I'm sorry it took so long to upload it but my University is in chaos :)) I have to go to the hospital and barely have time to write. But here it is :D Please let me know your opinion :)