Wow I just realized that I fully forgot to add disclaimers! …But it's It's obvious that I don't actually OWN any of these characters, right? Eh…but for the sake of safety:
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of these characters that are used in these stories here and now. They belong to the creator and any other executive peoples that work with him. Also, I do not own Charles Schwab. I saw a commercial for this company on TV, and decided to throw it in. And Procter and Gamble. And all the other brands and companies and things of that nature. Oh, and this disclaimer applies to previous and following chapters as well.
Whoo. Now everything's legal. On to the fic. Flashbacks are in italics.
Moon River – The Dark Side of the Moon
Yamanaka Ino awoke into the darkness of an early winter morning, an odd sense of foreboding taking over her thoughts. She tried to rid herself of the foreign premonitions, deciding to occupy herself by brewing some coffee. Coffee would be good. If it realigned her judgment after a night of drinking, it could dispel this cloud of apprehensive thoughts hanging over her head.
Breathing deeply, Sasuke took in the scent of fresh coffee, generously laced with notes of vanilla and cocoa. He smiled and stretched within the Egyptian cotton sheets, groaning. Flipping to his left, Sasuke was surprised when he didn't land on a sleeping Ino. He laughed to himself, realizing the conditions that had to be met before he could wake up to brewing coffee. Ino must've been drinking last night, or else she would have never woken up before he did.
Sasuke pulled on a t-shirt and headed towards the kitchen, glaring at the hair on the right side of his head, and how it decided to remain unruly despite his attempts to smooth it down. Currently unemployed, he could care less about how his hair looked. However, in a few hours he had a job interview, and he had already once been laughed out of a man's office on account of the aggravating mop of black atop his head.
Sasuke crossed the kitchen threshold tentatively, shivering as he stepped on the icy tile.
"Sasuke-kun! You're up!" chirped Ino. She snorted at the sight of his hair and returned to the stove. "Darling, would you like eggs for breakfast?"
"Actually, I'll just have some coffee. I have an interview today."
"Oh, is it for the CIO position?" questioned Ino.
"Yeah, that's the one." replied Sasuke, nonchalant. He had been aiming for this job for quite a while now. He would responsible for a pretty large chunk of one of New York's largest brokerage firms if he landed it.
Sakura sighed. She had gotten to the office earlier than usual, hoping to finish up yesterday's paperwork that Naruto had never even touched. If she didn't go ahead and do it herself, it would never get done. The blonde was driving her to an early grave. Sure he was an incompetent subordinate, but the most frustrating part was that she couldn't bring herself to fire him. Sometimes she wondered how she ever became such good friends with the man.
Sakura chuckled, recalling what had happened the first time she met Naruto nearly three years ago. They had both applied for the same job at Charles Schwab, and oddly, someone was fired at the last minute and they both received positions within the company.
She reclined in the leather desk chair, feeling conscious of her weight as it squealed beneath her. Sakura remembered sitting by the young blonde beside her within the waiting room, the receptionist busy reading off numbers into her headset.
"Hey, um...sorry to be rude, but what exactly are you looking at?" Sakura glared at the blonde beside her. He had been staring at her for a while, and she was beginning to feel his eyes on her.
"Whoops!" he laughed, throwing his arms behind his head. "Your hair is just so unusual. Didja dye it?"
"No." she replied, flipping pages in the magazine to the Fortune 500 list.
The blond man grinned.
"Ya know, Sakura, if we both get jobs here, I'm takin' you to dinner."
Sakura remembered her surprise as she heard her name fall out of his mouth. And at how he so shamelessly just stated that he would be going on a date with her.
"W-What? How did you know my name?" she questioned, eyes wide and mouth gaping.
"Oh, really? That's your name? Awesome! I was just callin' you that 'cause your hair kinda reminds me of the sakura blossoms my mom used to grow."
It was then that the intercom buzzed and her secretary's voice cut through her thoughts. "Miss Haruno, remember to get to the Floor before the noon bell to buy some Procter and Gamble for Hatake-san." Sakura grimaced. She abhorred above all else The Floor. All those men and women in business suits struggling to get their buys in and earn more money. She had been pretty lucky with her buys so far, earning a 50,000 profit for Hatake Kakashi. She had made him a richer man, and her employer had made her Floor Nine director.
Sighing, she grabbed an expanding file with the man's portfolio, her Sony Ericsson, and headed towards the New York Stock Exchange.
"Ugh, fuck NASDAQ." spat a man outside the Charles Schwab main building. He took a long puff on his cigarette and scowled.
Sasuke ignored the man and pushed the revolving doors of the glass building. The interior buzzed with activity, as women and men of varying ages sped around the floor, some occupied with cell phones; others simply strode past him with a definite sense of purpose. He reached the receptionist and asked for a Nara Shikamaru.
"Oh, you're that young hotshot Davis was talking about. Alright, here's your visitor's pass. Don't lose it." She smiled, looking him up and down, and handed him a laminated passcard. "Your interview will be on the ninth floor. Follow me." She took a step and paused, blushing.
I hope you get the job." The receptionist mumbled in a quiet voice.
"Thanks." Sasuke said and winked, smirking as he watched the crimson in her face deepen. He never knew why he had such a hold over women, but he finally discovered how to fully manipulate it after he graduated from college. That's when life began to get a lot more exciting at night.
He headed towards the elevators, eyes taking in the sophisticated simplicity of the art deco building. It was a glass building, and the sunlight streamed in boundlessly. Arriving on the ninth floor, Sasuke was almost immediately greeted by a rather small man.
"Uchiha Sasuke, right? I'm Miles Davis," started the man, shaking his hand. "Here's the room you'll be interviewed in, make yourself comfortable. Nara-san is in a meeting and will be finished shortly." With that he closed the door and left Sasuke alone in the private office.
"So Sasuke, I trust you will have a bright future here at Charles Schwab. I are a very intelligent young man, and I would like to see what you can do for us." Shikamaru smiled and opened the door for his newest employee.
"Naruto!" a flash of pink blew by Sasuke's face.
"Hrmm?" the blonde turned around in time to have Sakura leap into him. He laughed, "Sakura-chan, what is it? Why are you so happy?"
"Guess how much money I just made for Hatake and this company. Guess! Just guess!" Sakura was beaming.
"I don't know…four thousand?"
"Nope! Four hundred thousand." A mischievous grin took over her features as the entire office fell silent. Here it was again, she thought, the feeling you get when all eyes are on you, and it's not because they're mocking you or laughing at you. It's that mixture of jealousy and admiration. Perfect.
The silence was broken by the sound of someone clapping. Turning towards the direction of the sound, Sakura saw the same raven-haired man who had brought back so many painful memories for Naruto just a week earlier. And for that she wanted so much to wipe that smug look off his face.
"That's very impressive, Miss Haruno. That's why you're floor director, after all."
Shikamaru snapped his fingers, remembering a conference he had with the financial directors of Shiseido later in the day. "Haruno-san, since you're here, I might as well ask you now. Since you are the floor director, why don't you show our newest employee the ropes? I'm sure Mister Uchiha Sasuke would greatly appreciate that, especially from a beautiful woman such as yourself. Isn't that right, Sasuke-kun?" Shikamaru's curiously cheerful voice was beginning to irritate Sakura, who by this time was turning various shades of pink.
"Y-Yes sir. It would be my pleasure Nara-sama." Sakura's voice could do nothing but hit an unnatural octave as she plastered on a false smile, shaking the dark-haired man's hand. "So shall we get started?"
She led him to her office, noting that Naruto was nowhere to be found on the way back.
"I believe today will be quite interesting, Ms. Haruno." Sasuke held the door open as the pink-haired woman brushed past him. It would indeed turn out to be interesting. With this woman, he would break that Naruto.
Sakura reached for a manila folder from the stack she had placed on the top shelf. Turning, she held the folder out to the man and glared at his face, searching for any reason to give him the verbal (perhaps physical as well) beating he deserved.
"You know I'm only doing this for my job. There's no need for you to make small talk with me." Her voice was shaking. There was nothing! His face held no trace of malevolence. His voice was pure and above all…kind. He was a completely different person from what she witnessed in the restaurant. He was…more like the man she had encountered in the boutique. What had triggered this sudden change of personality? Well, she would leave that question for the end of the day.
"So you see, Higurashi-sama, minna-san, with the credentials our company has presented you, we feel that Charles Schwab will provide for Shiseido the most it can get out of its company investments." Sea green hardened into emerald. Sakura gestured to the points displayed behind her. She studied the man's movements, eyes narrowed once she noticed the financial director's smile. "Have we got a deal?"
"You've got quite a comprehensive argument and selling point, my dear." Higurashi turned to face Sasuke, who in turn decided not to marvel at the reflective qualities of the director's head. "Uchiha-san, did you say? What compelled you to apply for a job at this company? Why not Merrill Lynch or another competitive company?"
"Well, erm…you see.." In his peripheral vision he caught Sakura throwing him a pleading look, and that left him feeling even more embarrassed at his loss for words. "Higurashi-sama, it is my deepest and truest belief that a company is as good as its shareholders, and well, since my friends and myself happened to have shares of Charles Schwab, it was an obvious choice. Oh not to mention the women I encountered in their offices always seemed to be quite young and beautiful."
With the last line Sasuke warranted quite a few laughs from the men in the room, only to be silenced by a disapproving (and rather frightening) glare from Sakura.
The only thoughts that ventured into Sakura's mind on the way back to the Charles Schwab main building were thoughts of well…that ridiculous Sasuke character. She couldn't quite figure him out. Believing she had a sound, concrete reason to be cold and utterly rude to him stemmed from his actions the other day as well as how she felt after Naruto told her stories of his disloyal behavior. But she had seen his face with her own eyes, it was free of malice. She had heard him speak to those around him with such a light-hearted, genuine tone of voice. And besides confirming that he was a pervert, she had to admit that she had no good reason for hating the raven-haired man. Didn't everyone tell her to always look for the good in people? After all, what he had done was in the past, and he could've become a
"Miss Haruno!"
She felt strong arms wrap around her and pull her backwards. Immediately afterward she felt the artificial breeze created by a street-sweeper rolling down the road. That was too close. She had never been this careless before! Why was this man consuming her thoughts? And…and why was she in his arms again?
Frightened green met endless black as Sakura stared into Sasuke's face, blushing enormously.
"I..ah..didn't mean to be so clumsy…I'm not usually like this." stammered Sakura, feeling her face grow hotter.
"Don't worry too much about it, Ms. Haruno. Someone as important as you will most definitely have many things on her mind. As long as they don't get you into traffic accidents they should be fine." He smiled warmly, chuckling inward as he saw her blush.
It was at that moment a cheerful blonde decided to leave the office for some lunchtime ramen, waving furiously the moment he saw the head of pink. "Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan!"
Decisions, decisions. What would happen if he were to remain holding her? The moron was bound to see him doing so. In fact, what would happen if he was to lift her chin and kiss her? What interesting possibilities. Oh, but there was also the deep, painful way of allowing her to fall in love with him, and having her choose him over her blonde friend. Oh the ways to break this poor man's spirit.
"Sakura-san, what would you say if I were to…" began Sasuke, tilting her face towards his own.
"Hmm? If you were to do what?" The woman was in a dreamy daze. This was just too easy.
A/N: Oh my that was quite the uneventful chapter. I hope something will happen soon! ;;
