"So you'll give me Higurashi for QA and Yamanaka for Project management, and I'll leave you Minakura for coding?" Sai said, looking across the table at his colleagues. They were sitting in the conference room making the final decision for this summer's interns.
"Yes, that's fine with me," the other Gaming department team leader, Yakushi Nono, took one last look at the resume in front of him and sighed, "Pity about Yamanaka-san, though. If it weren't for the sensitivity of your project, I'd have fought harder for her."
"Better luck next time," Sai smiled.
"It's a pity about Haruno," Nono said as she flipped through some of the discarded resumes, "With her grades and awards, I thought we'd be bringing her on for sure, but after that interview..."
"Grades aren't everything," Yamato said, also looking over the candidate's resume, "She needs some work experience, but we're not a charity. She's just not a good fit right now. I'd be interested if she gets a job this summer and applies for Software development again next summer, though."
While he didn't let his annoyance at the pointless gossip show on his face, Sai nevertheless tried to move his colleagues along by standing up and gathering his papers. "Nono, I'll leave it to you to inform HR to make the offers then?"
"Sure, no problem. I'll make sure they go out by the end of the week," she waved at him, already used to his abrupt manner, "Oh, can you talk to some of your contacts about LEAF Corp this week? Considering they haven't responded to our offer yet, we gotta go with Plan B and apply some pressure."
Sai paused at the door, a sneer of distaste on his lips. He knew what kind of pressure Nono meant, and he knew what Plan B was, but as much as he didn't like these tactics, he didn't have a choice. If she was telling him to do it, Shigaraki and Danzo had already approved of these shady methods, and he couldn't fight the big bosses without risking his job.
"Will do," Sai turned around and smiled gently at her. Then he left the room before his colleagues could disgust him any more.
(￢_￢;)
Later that week, Sasuke sat at his desk in his brother's faculty housing apartment and read the email for the twelfth time. He sighed. Thoroughly frustrated, Sasuke raked his hand through his hair and put his head down on his desk in a rare gesture of defeat.
This was the fifth email he'd gotten this week about the same thing. While BLOOM was still interested in a partnership to expand their mobile game, LEAF needed more capital to expand into PC games like they'd wanted, especially if they wanted to pick up that project. However, another group of investors who'd initially been interested in their game engines suddenly did a 180 and didn't want to invest in their company any more. It's their loss, Sasuke thought resentfully. He hadn't wanted to go down the venture capital route to begin with, except to save his friends' pride, but with ROOT Corp's interference, they didn't have much of a choice, now.
His phone pinged. Sasuke picked up his phone and read the text from Naruto.
From the Idiot: Fuck I saw the email. Iwa VC just pulled out
To the Idiot: Are you guys going to fight me on our plan B now?
From the Idiot: Urghhhh Fine.
From the Idiot: I don't like feeling like we're taking advantage of you
To the Idiot: Shut up
From the Idiot: Fuck you too
Smirking at his last text, Sasuke picked up his pitch file for their company and went to go find his brother. Time for another chess game.
(￣ ￣|||)
Itachi still remembered when 16-year-old Sasuke had turned up at his door one day, sullen, defiant, with "I don't care if you don't want me, but I'm not going back" written all over his face. All he'd had was a half-empty school bag, with a couple of textbooks and his laptop, and a black eye. Itachi hadn't known what to say then either.
He'd just stepped back and let his brother into his house, but hadn't known what to do next. He hadn't known what to say to this brother that was no longer the smiling six-year-old boy who he'd taught to play chess, nor the eight-year-old who'd thrown a tantrum when they hadn't taken him to Itachi's celebratory banquet to celebrate receiving his PhD. Itachi hadn't seen him immediately after the accident that had killed his parents after his celebratory banquet that night either - when he'd awoken from his coma, his brother already blamed him for the car crash that had killed both their parents and had put Itachi into that coma.
Their visits over the years went from frosty to hostile, and while Itachi was bewildered and hurt by Sasuke's attitude, he had honoured his wishes and reduced his visits and letters. Itachi hadn't even sent a card this holiday. So seeing his baby brother turn up on his doorstep that day was the last thing he'd expected.
Standing there in the entryway that day, Itachi was not prepared.
"Are you hungry?"
"No."
"Want some water?"
"Hn."
"Do Aunt and Uncle-"
"I don't want anything to do with those bastards."
As the silence stretched between them like a taut bowstring, Itachi groped for something else, anything else to say, to make Sasuke feel at home. He couldn't stand how Sasuke just stared at his feet, as if he was afraid to look at Itachi. What came out were words he hadn't said to anyone for eight years.
"Do you want to play a game of chess?"
That finally startled Sasuke enough to look up at him. The look of fear and trepidation fading in his brother's eyes made Itachi smile just a little in relief. Not giving Sasuke a chance to refuse, he gestured him towards the living room of the tiny, faculty-provided apartment he was currently living in.
"Come, sit down. I still have our old set somewhere..."
By the time he'd dug it up from his study, Sasuke was sitting on the sofa, still wearing his backpack. He was clearly uncomfortable since he was looking around like he was trying to find the nearest exit at all times, but Itachi chose to ignore his brother's discomfort and just set up the familiar, scuffed chessboard.
"White goes first," Itachi gestured for Sasuke to make the first move.
Sasuke picked up the pieces like he hadn't played in years. That first game told Itachi just how agitated and upset his brother was, because Itachi checkmated him in eight moves.
Sasuke stared at the board.
Itachi wondered if he was going to cry like he had when he was six, snot bubbles and all.
Sasuke looked up at him. "Again."
It took another game to get Sasuke to put down his backpack. Two more games to get him to accept the water and sandwich Itachi brought him. A whole five more games until Itachi gave up waiting for Sasuke to say something himself. Sasuke lost every single one. But Itachi could see his heart stabilize as they kept playing, and it gave him some hope.
Itachi spent that day ignoring his marking, ignoring his emails, ignoring the calls from relatives he didn't like that started around the fourth game, and just focusing on the little brother who didn't know how to say what he needed. Around 1 am, when Itachi mentioned that he would get him a blanket to sleep on the sofa for now, Sasuke looked up at him, stunned.
"You don't hate me? You're not going to throw me out?" He asked.
Itachi raised an eyebrow at him, "No."
The dam broke. Sasuke finally told him about the brainwashing, and the emotional abuse, how he'd been told that Itachi hated him for standing in the way of his dream to become a professor. Sasuke told him about how he'd found out about the embezzlement from the family company and the physical abuse that had started when he'd demanded an answer. Itachi listened to it all quietly, watching the little brother who he should've protected fight hard not to cry.
When it was out, when Sasuke looked drained, Itachi looked at him for another minute, and then quietly said, "You better take the bed tonight then. I'm going to make some phone calls." He shepherded Sasuke into the bathroom to wash up and then to his bedroom to fall asleep. In that moment, Itachi was a bit terrified when he saw how docilely Sasuke went.
And then he got to work. He might have chosen the life of a leisurely academic, but he was still the eldest son of the Uchiha conglomerate, and he could still destroy anyone who forgot that.
"Nii-san," Sasuke interrupted his train of thoughts, "Checkmate."
Itachi blinked, unceremoniously jerked back to the present. "Ah. Good game."
"You weren't paying attention," The corner of Sasuke's mouth quirked up.
"Thinking of some old memories," Itachi said sheepishly. He hastily rearranged the pieces, "Another game? Or do you want to talk about something else?"
"Something else… I want to make an early withdrawal against my inheritance trust," Sasuke said. He handed Itachi a folder that Itachi opened and started scanning through, "I want to use the inheritance to back the company we started. We've been having issues with raising venture funding because of a competitor, but once we get past this, we should be fine. BLOOM is still interested in partnering with us with our mobile game. Can you-"
Itachi raised a finger to silence his brother as he read through the detailed business plan. Sasuke fell silent, but Itachi could still feel the weight of his stare. Inside, he smirked a bit at Sasuke's babbling. It'd been a while since he'd seen that.
Still, the plan was good. It's really the conglomerate's loss that Sasuke refuses to join the family business, Itachi mused as he read through the numbers. But…
"Your half of the trust won't be enough for your ideal scenario," Itachi stated baldly. He raised an eyebrow at his brother. If Sasuke didn't have super-human control, he'd've thought Sasuke was squirming
"It's enough to bootstrap. Plus, there's the car and the apartment…"
"No."
Sasuke's eyes darkened, "You can't tell me what to do with my personal property."
"I have a better proposal," Itachi said calmly to cut off Sasuke's rising temper, "The conglomerate will give you an angel loan."
"I don't want charity, and I don't want to embezzle against Father's legacy," Sasuke's voice rose as he argued.
"It's not charity, and it's not embezzlement," Itachi responded. He softened a little when he saw how upset Sasuke still was at the idea. Ever since that day six years ago, since they'd also cut off their relatives, Sasuke was especially sensitive about that point and kept the family business at an arm's length. Itachi hadn't pushed it, but he couldn't avoid it forever. Even if they had good managers in place to manage the day-to-day work, they still eventually had to do their part as board members.
"The conglomerate often issues angel loans as a way to make a connection with promising new companies. It's something Kisame started a couple of years ago," Itachi told him, "While it doesn't have the insane returns of venture capital funding, it's much less risky and still decently profitable. In addition, they still think of us first if they want to exit with an acquisition. He just mentioned that he was thinking about getting into entertainment. Your gaming company should be a good start."
Sasuke hesitated. Itachi could see that he still instinctively rejected the idea of being in debt to the conglomerate for anything, so he added deliberately, "Of course, for your ideal scenario, you would need some collateral to get the loan you want…. Your half of the trust should be plenty."
The trust had been the private assets their parents left them upon their untimely death. While the bulk of it was the shares in the conglomerate that Sasuke refused to touch, there were still sufficient dividends, cash, and other investments that either of them could've lived comfortably if not lavishly for the rest of their life.
Itachi knew his brother. Sasuke wasn't going to lose the money, but even if he did, using his trust as the collateral would let him walk away from it without feeling like he owed the conglomerate anything. It was a good deal all around.
Maybe this way he'll actually want to pay attention to the family business. Itachi watched Sasuke consider it, but knew he'd agree to it sooner rather than later. The kid was too arrogant to think he'd lose the money in the first place.
Sure enough, Sasuke nodded, "I'll contact Kisame then."
Itachi quirked a small smile, "That wasn't so hard, was it?"
"Oh shut up," Sasuke scowled at him. He was about to get up from the sofa to let Itachi go back to his marking, when he stopped. Surprised, Itachi looked up at him with a question in his eyes. Sasuke looked like he was wrestling with something before he finally opened his mouth.
"Are you… disappointed that I'm working on games?" Sasuke asked hesitantly, "And not academia or security like you? Or on the company?"
"No," Itachi smiled gently at him.
"Do you… think Otou-san and Okaa-san would have been disappointed?"
Itachi hesitated, "They would have understood… eventually. You can't live for the dead, Sasuke." He wasn't going to lie to his brother, but he didn't want to discourage him, either.
The corners of Sasuke's mouth tightened, but unexpectedly his mouth then quirked up in a little grin, "Yeah."
"You know, I can smooth your way with Kisame," Itachi offered, changing the subject when he remembered something, "If you do something for me. Something you should be doing anyways."
Sasuke eyed him a bit suspiciously.
Itachi smiled, "The computer science students association is looking for more volunteers for the resume feedback session at the end of the term. It's a good chance to give back to the university for the last time, before you graduate."
Sasuke glared at his brother, but they both knew if he went straight to Kisame, Kisame would give him a hard time about not working for the conglomerate and starting his own company instead. Itachi was probably the only one who could make Kisame shut up. After weighing the pros and cons, Sasuke finally nodded. "But don't tell anyone I'm going to be there."
Itachi winced when he remembered the last campus event that'd used Sasuke's presence as an advertising trick, "OK." Even he'd been nearly trampled by the stampede of fangirls.
"I'm going to head back to the dorm to discuss this with the others," Sasuke decided, picking up his laptop bag near the door, "I'll sleep there while we work out all the kinks, don't expect me for a while."
"OK," Itachi followed, walking him to the door. Just before Sasuke turned to leave, Itachi poked him in the forehead with two fingers, "Go safely."
Sasuke was already used to the odd little gesture because he only nodded in acquiescence as he turned to leave. Just before Itachi shut the door on him, though, Sasuke turned back around and said, "I'll see you tomorrow." He then left faculty housing at a brisk clip.
Frowning, Itachi watched him go. Didn't he just say he was staying at the dorms for a while? He can't think the angel loan will only take a day to settle, right? He didn't dwell on it, though. This little interlude had seriously eaten into his marking time, and Itachi had to get a move on if he was going to have these marks uploaded for the elective class he was teaching tomorrow.
All alone in the house now and newly equipped with a fresh cup of chamomile tea, he put the chessboard back in its usual place under the coffee table to make room for his marking. Itachi picked up the assignment that he'd stopped marking at. He'd carelessly left it on top of the pile when he'd been interrupted.
Let's see… Haruno Sakura-san eh?
AN:I wonder what kind of face Itachi would make if he knew Sasuke's ulterior motive?
A couple of things this chapter - More worldbuilding, more backstory, and more plot? But what about the ships, my dear reader? To that I say... tune in next week, it gon be good hehehehe. Also, it's kind of hard to write Itachi without the killing all the Uchihas plot point? Also, the business major in me is cringing at all the liberties I took with describing new company creation, conglomerates, and angel loans (they don't actually exist, angel investments are always equity transactions, but PLOT, so oh well), but at the end of the day, it's just a story. My apologies for the late update - Reglee (my amazing beta) and I both had work and summer vacation where the timing just did not work out. But we should be back to our regular schedule soon! Anyways, thanks for your patience and thanks for stopping by! As always, comments, reviews, favourites, kudos, subs, and little dancing men (Holmes, not... midgets?) always make my day. See you next time!