There are times when other people just know when to avoid someone. There's a certain expression on their face or a certain atmosphere around a person that just screams; 'stay away from me or I will hurt you', and today people in the Uchiha office building were tripping over their feet to stay away from their boss's youngest son.
As Sasuke moved about the office emitting a dark aura and when he was shut in his office with his door firmly closed against human company even the block of wood seemed to be menacing and people found themselves scurrying past it as fast as they could without actually losing their dignity and running.
One person, however, seemed oblivious to the mood and spent all the time he could cheerfully attempting to make conversation with Sasuke who generally looked like he wanted to murder him. So the overall decision in the office was that Naruto was either very stupid or completely fearless.
Although little was known about the cause of Sasuke's foul mood most people were content to ignore their curiosity. As they thought that to inquire about it would be the nearest equivalent to suicide and although Sasuke was seen as, generally, the more even tempered of the Uchiha brothers they knew that he had an explosive temper when provoked that put Itachi's to shame. Besides most people could figure out that somehow the other Uchiha brother had been part of the cause.
Naruto stood outside the door to Sasuke's office and braced himself for Sasuke's bad mood. He knew that as soon as he entered the office he would be told to get out and if Sasuke didn't have as much composure as he usually did then something heavy would probably make its way onto Naruto's head as well. Nevertheless, Naruto grinned as he pushed the door open letting it slam on the wall as it swung, it was a small victory in annoying Sasuke further
"Ever heard of knocking?" Sasuke said icily and Naruto laughed.
"And why would I do that?" He said and Sasuke said nothing. Naruto frowned, usually Sasuke would at least have a smart reply to something like that and the lack of one was defiantly a cause for concern. Sasuke had a tendency to bottle everything up and lash out at the person who pushed him too far. Naruto wandered further into Sasuke's office letting the door slam behind him and sat on Sasuke's desk taking satisfaction from the annoyance that flickered across Sasuke's face.
"So-" Naruto started, drawing out the word and watching Sasuke stare furiously at the paperwork in front of him. He might be provoking the devil but he might as well have some fun as Sasuke tried to control his temper. "So," He said again dragging the vowel out for even longer this time.
"If you've got nothing to say then leave," Sasuke snapped.
"Fine," Naruto muttered and then fell silent. Sasuke looked up and glared at him to get him to leave.
Naruto sighed and, ignoring Sasuke's furious look began swinging his legs he looked up at the ceiling of the office and could see Sasuke out of the corner of his eye giving him a murderous look.
"Why did you break up with Sakura?" He asked innocently and heard a crack, Naruto looked down to see that Sasuke had managed to snap the pen he had been using in half. Naruto watched Sasuke as he raised his hand to look at the ink stains on it.
"I'm serious Sasuke," Naruto said when he realised that no explanation was forthcoming. "Why, you two seemed happy together."
"Did we?" Sasuke asked blankly still looking more interested in the black marks on his hand than his friend and Naruto frowned.
"Yes." He said sounding slightly exasperated now as Sasuke was slowly managing to wear through his almost infinite patience "So why did you end it?"
"You wouldn't understand," Sasuke muttered.
"You're right I don't understand why you suddenly decided to break Sakura's heart."
"What makes you think hers was the only heart broken." Sasuke said and Naruto stared at him.
"What?" He asked as his brain tried to process this new information he watched as Sasuke's face changed until it was completely devoid of emotion and even the flicker of annoyance at Naruto still swinging his legs against the desk was gone.
"Just go Naruto." Sasuke said flatly and Naruto sighed before he jumped of the desk and walked out slowly and deliberately as he felt Sasuke watch his every move and closed the door quietly behind him.
Sasuke frowned at the papers in front of him and rubbed a hand over tired eyes. It had been a long time since he had slept properly and Sakura had commented on it only a few weeks before. And, to make things worse, in the past few days after he had left Sakura by the bench his sleeping pattern had gotten worse as he stayed up half the night staring out of the window as the guilt felt like it was slowly eating away at him from the pit of his stomach.
Trying to shake all thoughts of Sakura and Naruto's puzzlement and obvious disapproval at his actions Sasuke turned his attention to his computer to try and find something that would require all of his attention so he wouldn't be able to dwell on some of his more unpleasant memories.
On the other side of the door Naruto looked down at his feet and he tried to figure out what was going on in his friends mind. Although Naruto had never been very good at guessing Sasuke's complicated thought process, as far as he was concerned if he cared about someone he would do anything to be with them, to make them happy.
Naruto treasured his time with Hinata and never wanted it to end and if Sasuke felt the same for Sakura then he couldn't understand why Sasuke would suddenly break it off. Naruto pushed himself off the door to Sasuke's office and began to wander down the corridor to his own cheerfully greeting the people he came across as he continued to mull over the problem in his mind. He knew he would do anything for Hinata, as long as she was happy he was; he would do anything to make her smile, anything to keep her happy, do anything to protect her.
Oh.
Naruto froze suddenly causing someone to walk into his back and there was a flutter of papers falling behind him. He turned and began apologising profusely to the girl who had walked into him and helped her gather up the documents as he thought.
So that was it. Maybe he and Sasuke weren't that different after all. Sasuke must have been able to foresee something that none of them could and in an effort to protect her and preserve her happiness in the long run he broke it off with her. He was leaving Sakura temporarily broken hearted but likely to find happiness elsewhere and the rest of them bewildered by his actions.
Naruto smiled at the girl as he handed over the papers he had gathered and apologised again as she explained that she had just come from Itachi's office and had to get through all the papers by the end of the day. He wished her luck and watched as she walked cautiously round the corner the documents and forms piled high in her arms.
He wondered what Itachi had said to Sasuke, and if there was any way to remedy this situation. He had already told Sakura the minefield of a relationship that Sasuke shared with his brother and he hoped that maybe someday she would see it too. That she would someday see that Sasuke thought that by breaking up with her he could protect her from his brother. And maybe then they could find some sort of happily ever after, even if it was just for a short time.
Naruto gave a satisfied smile as he sat down at his desk. He was determined to find out what had happened from Sasuke and maybe then Hinata could somehow tell Sakura and then maybe she could forgive him. They both deserved to find some happiness with each other and Naruto wanted to help them achieve that.
Sasuke leant his elbows on his desk and rested his forehead on his interlocked hands as his jaw clenched slightly. There were some things he thought that Naruto would be unable to understand and it wasn't that Naruto was inherently stupid but he was unbearably optimistic and naive despite all evidence to the contrary that the world was not the happy rosy place that Naruto seemed to believe it was.
Naruto seemed to believe that if something made you happy then you should just go for it, not that he was a selfish person he seemed to gain happiness by spreading joy to other people and managed to get depressed over other people's problems. It was this childlike attitude to the world that endeared Naruto to a lot of the female staff and it was also what irritated Sasuke the most about him. What Naruto would never understand was why Sasuke would willingly destroy his own chances of happiness and trap himself within the demands of his family business.
Or maybe he was underestimating his friend. Sasuke frowned fed up of trying to second guess people which seemed to be almost a requirement in his place of work, he'd just have to wait either Naruto would keep bugging him until Sasuke revealed his reasons for breaking up with Sakura or he'd start berating him for his reasons for breaking up with her. Looking at it either way Sasuke could see several headaches coming his way.
The first headache would be from berating himself for not finding any kinder way to break up with Sakura or for doing anything to soften the blow. But then again he always had terrible people skills that wasn't something he could easily change. But still, years of preservation had taught Sasuke to harden his heart and one look at Sakura as her eyes filled with tears almost broke that. As he had to bite down on the inside of his mouth to stop himself from saying anything else, to try and justify his actions, to tell her everything. If there was one moment in his life when Sasuke truly hated himself then that was it.
The second headache would be Naruto bothering him about it all the time trying to find out Sasuke's exact reasons or even to try and somehow help the two of them come back together again. What was even worse was that Naruto was fond of Sakura in his own way and Sasuke knew that he'd have to face Naruto's disappointed look for the next few weeks.
And the third headache had just walked through the door. Brilliant.
"Hello Sasuke," Itachi said coolly looking around the neat office.
"Itachi," Sasuke said curtly although the older man hardly seemed to notice.
"You know you did the right thing," Itachi said casually walking further into the room as Sasuke clenched his fists tightly. "Breaking up with that girl, you saved her from a lot more heart ache if you stayed together only for you to throw her away later. It could never have been real between the two of you. What happens in the family stays in the family you know that. The only outsiders allowed in are thoroughly vetted by Father and there's no way she would have passed, she's too ordinary, just a normal girl but I suppose that was part of the appeal." Itachi said giving Sasuke a thoughtful look. Sasuke glared at the desk in front of him as Itachi continued. "There's something about her though isn't there. If you want to I can go and comfort her now you've left her all alone. She'll need the support I think, people know about her. You see everything you've done, everything you've tried to prevent, all your actions have been useless."
"Get out," Sasuke said stiffly, still refusing to look at his brother. Itachi laughed slightly. "I mean it Itachi," Sasuke said, his hands were shaking slightly with barely contained anger and he made an effort to stop it.
"Fine, I will, I think I might go and find Ms. Haruno anyway." Itachi said and left Sasuke's small office. Naruto saw Itachi leave as he headed back towards Sasuke's office and hurried into the room afterwards to see what had happened. He saw Sasuke slam both his fists onto the desk and they heard a cracking noise as the woodwork was dented beneath Sasuke's hands, there was a throbbing pain where his fists had made impact with the desk but Sasuke ignored it.
"Bastard." He hissed and Naruto edged towards him looking worried although Sasuke turned away from his friend and tried to ignore his presence. Naruto sighed as he saw Sasuke's reluctance to talk to him.
"Sasuke," He said softly, "If you ever want to talk..." He trailed off knowing that Sasuke understood him as his dark eyes flicked briefly towards Naruto before returning to their original position. "I'm always happy to listen anytime." Naruto said firmly before leaving Sasuke to his own thoughts which, if Sasuke was brutally honest with himself, were a lot worse than having to listen to Naruto's prattle.
Somehow Itachi always handed him the things that helped him make a complete mess of his life.