Hey All! Welcome to Chapter 5! Thanks for reading so far. Please read and Review! I'd prefer reviews so that I can be assured that my story is being uploaded correctly. For SOME reason, my last 2 chapters had issues with the Upload (Cough) Fanfiction (Cough) so I'm hoping today is normal.
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Chapter 5-Commanding Gaze(Thursday-Early Morning)
The elevator dinged into the silent hallway as Naruto stumbled out and made the way to his door. His downtrodden eyes glazed around the open space, easily enough for a small apartment or two, and looked back at the lock. It was always silent on his floor. There was no one else there.
The lights had been off since long before he entered the motion sensors bringing up soft glowing inlaid lights from the ceiling just as he approached their areas. He looked around the huge penthouse; all the people from tonight could have fit in here and still have room.
Opening the door to his main suite and bedroom, he glanced at the bed, where his fiancée lay, asleep to the world with her snow blessed skin shining in the moonlight from the glass ceiling above.
He was an idiot. He was marrying a rich girl who would set him up for life. He didn't need to struggle in life like the lower echelons of civilization. This was his life, wasn't it?
So lost in his thoughts was he that he took a snail's pace to change into his pajamas. And yet he didn't know why he bothered as he laid down on the left side of the bed that was designated for him. The mattress heated up to match his preferred temperature, lulling him into comfort as only the richest of items could seem to do.
His motions had woken his fiancée as he laid down, and she rolled over to face him, her eyes glowing tiredly back at his. "Everything go alright, sweetie?"
Naruto's throat pulsed with electricity, his lips bitten raw by his ex as his entire body electrified from her skin and body around his.
"…Everything was fine."
"Want to talk about it? I'm here if it's serious."
"I still love you." Those four words replayed over and over in his head. Her voice so innocent and yet so loving that it made his heart ache. After all this time, she still loved him?
Naruto shook his head to clear his mind. She herself had told him to forget it; that it was a reflex. He smiled sadly. He knew the feeling. He'd wanted to say it too, but they weren't like that anymore, and this was his life now. He was getting married, and she had nothing to worry about.
"No. Nothing serious."
"Good night then." Hinata turned back around and was soon fast asleep. Even with the warmth of the mattress, the proof of a body lying next to him, Naruto stayed awake, feeling so alone in this huge apartment that was swallowing him whole, and his eventual relief was thinking about the girl of his past from so long ago.
(Tuesday-6 weeks left until Wedding)
The weekend had come and gone as Naruto turned into the old parking lot that led to an older warehouse. As sole owner and operator, Naruto pulled into his dedicated spot in the front, and sat there for a minute.
His mind still kept him up at night, thinking of a girl that he really shouldn't, but nevertheless, he did. Naruto recalled Hinata's speech from last Monday when she declared that she didn't care what he did before they were married, because they were forever once they were. So why did he feel guilty even considering it?
"Good morning Mr. Namikaze!" One of his oldest workers yelled at him as he himself pulled in with a truckload of supplies. Naruto sighed with a smile and got ready for a day of happiness and dread.
He stepped into the main lobby where a peppy college girl named Jaime asked him if he had a good weekend. He had, and asked about hers to where she blushed and admitted that she may have partied a little too hard and her boyfriend was mad at her.
As he grabbed the daily counts from her, he looked behind at the warehouse and remembered growing up in there, his parents shifting him over from one employee to another as they struggled to keep their family owned business afloat.
"Yes ma'am. " Jerry, a 15 year veteran spoke into the phone for a customer. "We here at 'Lighting Kunai' deliver as fast as lightning!...yes ma'am, that is a fun line to say. Our CEO made that up when he was but a young lad."
Naruto overhead their tag line, and blushed embarrassed. He had been twelve and his parents had taken it way too far, changing the logo to match the phrase, so now a yellow circle enraptured a black knife cutting across it, and everything from their shirts to the trucks and even the far wall had it emblazoned on it.
"Mr. Namikaze, we got the Landorn deal!" Emily shouted across the entirety of the warehouse and Naruto faked a smile and waved back at her, before he moved up the stairs to the balcony that ran around the entirety of the huge facility.
His parents' company had survived and prospered over the years, but it was their dream; not his. He wanted to find something he was passionate about for his life, but instead he solved problems everywhere he turned. The moving into a completely online world, the benefits system in accounting used to be a joke, and hiring Jamie had been perfect timing as customers asked to visit the warehouse on a near weekly basis to tour their new partnership.
Times were looking up for the company, but Naruto's body tightened from the near constant strain of the fourteen hour days and the fact that no matter what he fixed, there was always something else that needed fixing.
"Morning…Boss." A black haired man grinned over at him as he entered the separated office space on the second floor. It had its own stairwell, and its own spots dedicated for them, but Naruto didn't park there. He wanted to see the employees every day; they were the only reason he could get up in the morning.
"Sasuke, just...don't. You're like my equal here." Naruto sighed and sagged into his seat, ignoring the smirking man across from his own desk.
"If I was equal, then I'd have a share in the company."
"You do have a share."
"But not enough to matter." Sasuke shrugged. "...We got the Landorn contract signed last night."
"Oh boy."
"Naruto, be happy. That's five million a year-."
"-And another three hours a week that I have to ask someone to stay over to finish." Naruto muttered as he looked out the window to the employees milling around below.
"Everyone's willing to do it, Naruto."
"I know that, but they...they shouldn't have to." Naruto's angry snarl diffused.
"Hey." Sasuke smirked. "Everyone loved the raise two months ago. We're really turning a profit."
"...Did you notice Jamie limping this morning?" Naruto whispered, his eyes narrowing.
"She mentioned that she tried to help out a bit."
"Sasuke…" Naruto sighed as he rubbed his neck with his hands. "She's only supposed to do her side of the work."
"That is her side...Molly took her maternity leave."
"She had the baby?" Naruto looked over to match Sasuke's smile.
"Yep. Pictures are plastered all over the break room kitchen."
"Wow. She's been trying for five years with her husband...good for her."
"Speaking of trying…" Sasuke stalled, getting his attention as Naruto looked up. " …I've been waiting for the details. Did you and that ex of yours hook up last Wednesday?"
"No. It was...heated. I um...I didn't expect that."
"I told you it was a date."
"Yeah, yeah. Everyone told me that and I was the idiot who didn't believe it." Naruto sighed. "I haven't been sleeping too good because of it."
"I bet you haven't." Sasuke suggested only for him to dodge a pencil thrown his way. "Hey. You should have just fucked her or something. Get some nice stress relief that way."
"I'm engaged, Sasuke. Guys don't do that when they're engaged."
"Was it fun at least? To see her again?"
At that, Naruto stopped working and looked back at him with a thoughtful look. The look soon turned into a broad smile. "It was...exhilarating… to say the least."
"Exhilarating? Come on Naruto. You're not married yet. I say fuck her."
"Sasuke, I can't. That's not...I mean I want to...no, it's not right."
"Look man." Sasuke leaned on his desk towards him and Naruto took sharp attention. Sasuke may joke around like any good friend, but after years together, when he leaned over a desk, he meant business.
"You're getting married in 6 weeks. Nothing is going to change that. All I'm saying is that you sleep with her, bang her so good that whatever the both of you felt back in is enshrined as a great memory. You end that part of your fun exciting life with her, satisfying all those pent up urges after all these years, all the things that the two of you wanted to do and didn't, and after all the fun is out of it, you marry into the loveless marriage that you signed into to save this company."
Naruto looked down, trying to deny that logic. "Hinata loves me."
"You clearly don't return her love. You never have." Sasuke retorted, rolling his eyes as he leaned back up. "This whole contract with the Hyuuga Corporation includes an archaic marriage seal to be official. Besides, you just said last week that Hinata doesn't care what you do until you're married, so what's the harm?"
Naruto still looked unsure and Sasuke sighed and prepared to push his best friend into the arms of his high school love.
"Look. I only came here to Konoha after your parents died and you took all this work on your own. You left college and were doing a great job. You hired me with no references fresh out of high school because my brother and I started a nice side business that worked well with yours."
"I started working here after all that stuff happened in high school so I don't personally know Sakura, but from what I've seen all these years, of you being able to smile every time even a mention of her pops up; if you two were that in love back then, I'm sure there are feelings now, right?"
Naruto went to open his mouth when he paused, thinking about what Sasuke had said. Sakura did blurt that big word out. His entire body had been ready to take her down in front of a whole club and damn the consequences! But he had cowered out. Even if he was engaged...
"Well…" Naruto's fingers began to move as he reached for his phone and sighed morbidly at the clear problem at hand "...I-I don't even have her number and-!"
(Shatter)
The glass window exploded next to them, sending shards across the room and onto the floor. "Not again!" Sasuke shouted as he surged from his desk and down the back stairs.
Naruto sighed and walked over to the window, stopping to pick up the rock that had caused the damage, and the fist sized hole now in the window.
He made his way to the side where that window was open and gazed at the backside of the warehouse where between the shipping boxes and freight trucks, two young teens tried to escape, only to run straight into Sasuke and the guard who held them by their shoulders.
Sasuke looked up at the window and yelled. "Naruto, call the cops this time!"
Naruto held himself back from reaching for his phone. He couldn't help but be indecisive as he saw the boys struggling to get away. He did stupid things when he was their age too, worse even with his partner in crime. Was it really so bad?
"I can't just talk it out with them?" Naruto called down hopefully, but Sasuke sighed and shook his head.
"Naruto you paid for three windows already and talked with them twice before today. Call!"
The battle lost, Naruto went for his phone. "Alright."
Twenty minutes later, Sasuke stood outside with Naruto and the guard holding the two boys between them as a police cruiser pulled into their lot. Stopping a little ways before them so as to let the numerous freight trucks have ample space, the two officers stepped out and began to head their way.
Sasuke almost jumped when he heard Naruto take in a quick gasp into his lungs. Why was he surprised all of a sudden? Sasuke directed his gaze to the officers and looked at their breastplates before he stifled a huge grin. Oh this was just too good.
Naruto gasped as he spotted pink hair in a princess braid falling around the officer's head and formed a short ponytail in the back. Sakura was here? Naruto's mind should have been panicking, but instead he was wondering about her hair style. He hadn't noticed it before, but that style. Back in high school, Sakura had made fun of it in high school, saying that girls don't braid like that unless they're full of themselves and calling it stupid. Had she been covering up the idea that she liked it? Naruto felt cheated and lied to. She could have confided that secret with him. Naruto shook his head. Maybe it was regulations….yeah. That could be it.
Sakura looked over, her conversation with her partner done and as she faced them, Naruto made direct eye contact. Sakura continued to look right at him as she approached, making him shiver with nerves. How was he supposed to act?!
"Hello. I am Officer Haruno and this is my partner." She recited to them, her voice perfectly neutral and professional. "We're here about a report about trespassing and destruction of property."
Naruto held in his raging nerves as she looked at him again. "Yes ma'am. I called the police."
"Care to make a statement? Have the boys been here before?"
"Yes ma'am. They've been here two or three times before, but we've only caught them twice before. We uh...have the paperwork of the previous incidents."
"This is the first destruction of property?"
"No ma'am." Sasuke spoke up. "My boss here has paid himself to fix three previous windows."
Officer Haruno nodded along and began to write things down on her pad. "I see."
As the other officer spoke up and talked to the guard about his story, Naruto couldn't do anything but stare at Sakura. He had reconnected with her when she was on duty, but now, once again she was here before him, and yet she acted like he was a complete stranger.
There was so much tension in the air between them. Surely, she felt like an idiot after he embarrassed her last week, leaving her hot and bothered and unsatisfied, all because he was too dense to realize she had asked him on a date. No wonder she was creating distance between them.
"Now boys," Sakura bent down to look at them, and their struggling ceased right away as they ogled his ex in her uniform. He would too, if he wasn't surrounded right now. "Can you tell me why you threw those rocks?"
"It's an old building."
"Yeah!"
"But people work here. You could have hurt someone. What if your parents worked here? Would you throw rocks then?"
"No! My mom would cream me if I hit her with a rock."
"Ha! You're scared of your mom!"
"You're scared of your baby sister!"
"Boys." Officer Haruno reached over and grabbed each of their shoulders and both of them looked at her. "It was wrong, and you two are going to have to work something out so that Mr…" The officer glanced her green eyes at him before frowning slightly. "...Namikaze...so that he doesn't have to pay more money."
"We're sorry."
"That's good. We'll take you home. Come on now." Officer Haruno guided them back towards the car, opening the back as each teen slid inside.
Naruto watched as she acted stern and cross towards the boys, but in a motherly manner. Man, she'd be great with kids in the future; guilting them into apologizing while still in a loving manner. What a knockout play of hers.
As Officer Haruno began to head back, Sasuke and the guard led the other officer towards the actual scene, leaving the two of them to themselves. This was his chance!
"Saku-"
"Mr. Namikaze," Sakura spoke again in an authoritative fashion, taking out a small notepad and pen as she began to write something down. "Have you filed a report before?"
"No, ma'am." Naruto gulped, feeling dejected as she looked at him with piercing eyes. He had really hurt her feelings, hadn't he?
"Why not?"
"They're just kids, and…" Naruto nervously rubbed his neck. "I feel like I was like them at that age."
"Even so, you need to show them you mean business. Show them a firm exterior that tells them that you will be strict."
Naruto grinned sheepishly. "You know I'm not that kind of guy."
Sakura frowned and looked back down to write in her own notes. "So no?"
"I-I'll try to be more strict-ma'am."
"I worry for your employees' safety if you don't." She looked down, writing things down as Naruto nodded his head.
"I agree. Thank you, officer."
"Well, if you remember anything else that comes to mind." Officer Haruno finished as she pulled off a tag and card and handed both over to Naruto who accepted it and sighed, letting it down to his side without looking at it. The other officer came up as they finished their report and walked back to their car, before driving away to drop off the young delinquents.
Naruto sighed depressed as he turned back to his place of business. He couldn't help but feel downtrodden; she didn't say that she wanted to meet up again, or even tell him off and to never contact her again. It was like the door was left open for him, but with a Pitbull guarding the doorway.
Sasuke met him at the stairs, chuckling to himself as he glanced back at the ghostly image of where the officers had stood. "So that was Sakura, huh?"
"Y-yeah." Naruto shrugged lethargically.
"You told me she was a rail thin girl."
"Well, she was lithe and built for speed back in high school." Naruto rebutted.
A low growl emanated from Sasuke's throat. "Still though, she filled out wonderfully." Naruto could only agree. Disappearing junior year had him miss her last growth spurt, from her chest growing out to her bottom shaping wonderfully.
"I'd cheat on my wife for that ass."
At that comment, Naruto sported a goofy smile and playfully swung at his coworker. "That doesn't count, you bastard!"
"Why not?" Sasuke dodged and ran up the stairs to their office. "You're not showing her any appreciation."
"You and your wife are swingers!" Naruto yelled back, shivering at all the lewd tales the black haired male would gloat about, switching wives and seducing girlfriends for a thrill of a night.
Naruto sighed as the depression hit him again. He would have been lucky enough to just make Sakura happy. He didn't like it, being gazed at like that. It was like she was waiting for him to man up and do something, like she was waiting for him to pounce on her. He wasn't that kind of guy...well, not anymore.
Sasuke hugged him around the shoulders, scanning the papers in his hand to smirk. "All jokes aside, you make it seem as if you don't have a reason to be with her, but it looks like she has a motive to be with you."
"Huh?"
Naruto finally glanced down at the paperwork, at the ticket with his copy of her report, and on top of it was a blank card.
'Still friends?' Was written on the top section of the card with a little cherry blossom symbol, her rebellious symbol she'd tag on anything she got her hands on back in the day, and her number underneath that.
"Seems to me that the date wasn't a total loss after all." Sasuke remarked as he sat back down and got to work.
Naruto watched Sasuke idly for a minute before he sat down at his desk and got back to work. But every time he tried to write, he couldn't help but look back at her card.
She had been gazing so intently at him, and yet he didn't see her write this out right in front of him? How much did he really see when those alluring eyes were on his own? Whatever the case, the card would smolder and burn in his pocket, keeping his nights as restless as a week ago, urging him to do something, anything to alleviate the mystery that was his ex.
AN: Hope you all enjoyed. Read and Review! Thanks and see you all later this week.