Itachi's problem


7


"I must say, I was intrigued to receive a call from you, Uchiha" said a strikingly looking redhead right from the entrance. Itachi smiled in welcome and dismissed his butler, then gestured for the guest to come in further into the house.

Gaara Sabaku was from a known Suna family, with a history as old and infamous as his own. The young graduate has shown great brilliance in studies and first months of employment with the biggest law firm in the country. If Itachi's intel was right (and it always was, of course) the man possessed great intellectual maturity for his age with just the right creative angle that was missing in his plans. He could not wait to see just what exactly their minds combined could achieve.

"My utmost pleasure to have you here. Oh, and Itachi is just fine" He was in high spirits after their earlier conversation over the phone – the evening ahead looked promising.

"No, thank you. We're not that close" Promising indeed. Inwardly amused, Itachi just nodded – if that wasn't a challenge, he didn't know what was.

"Why don't we discuss this over dinner?"


As the evening progressed, Uchiha was more and more charmed by the other man. Gaara listened intently, without interruptions and asked questions only when Itachi intentionally left out some pieces of information. It was a sign of a great mind at work – identifying and filling in the blanks and looking for weaknesses, masterfully so.

"And you couldn't just, I don't know, set a blind date?" Gaara inquired, as they walked through the house "or tell your brother that you found the man he was so smitten with?"

"What fun would that be?"

They entered the room adjacent to his study and Itachi watched as Gaara's small eyebrow rose at the sight of desks, more desks, and boards – all filled with satellite images, photographs, maps, and more data overlaid maps.

"All of this just to get your little brother laid?"

It was the first comment from the redhead for the whole evening that Itachi didn't quite appreciate and he made a quick (and wise) decision to postpone introducing the fifteen man 24/7 surveillance team currently occupying his basement. Instead he simply said "It's not all that extreme" in his defence, trying to not let the hurt show on his face. The man had siblings also and should know the lengths one was willing to go for family. Thankfully, his guest did not provide any further comments on the subject.

With curiosity, Itachi watched the redhead walk between the desks carrying a thoughtful expression and a mild crinkle between brows. It always fascinated him seeing people deep in their thoughts – it was why he was such an avid sponsor of intellectual workers in the scientific community and also of shogi players. When green eyes met his again, Itachi was pinned to the spot, startled. They weren't looking at him, but through him. While face remained beautifully blank, the eyes sparkled with brilliance—calculating, manipulating pieces of information, planning several steps ahead—they were magnificent.

"Alles hat seine Zeit," heard he and released the breath that unbeknownst to him was being held hostage in suddenly tight chest of his.

"What?"

"Everything has it's own time" translated Gaara, though it wasn't that Itachi couldn't speak German, but the fact that the redhead could was the striking blow that left him speechless. Taking a deep breath in with eyes closed, Uchiha gathered his wits and temporarily broke the spell the redhead cast on him, requesting to elaborate on the statement.

"You've laid the groundwork by creating opportunities for a chance encounter." Gaara proceeded, pointing on the main map of their prefecture. "But you can't control chances. Not when statistics is not on your side. Time, though, is a different story. They frequent the same places, but at very different times. You need the time to be on your side, so that their schedules get closer and closer, with out them noticing." This was a very interesting idea that Itachi immediately took a liking to as he walked closer to the man, who still continued talking, and took another look at the map "You need to grab full control over something simple, something close to them that could manipulate their schedule. You need—"

This time, when their eyes met Itachi allowed a small smile out and saw the other man do the same.

"—elevators," said both in perfect unison.


Somewhere in an old but still magnificent mansion, from a window in the office that used to belong to his father, Itachi Uchiha caught a glimpse of the brilliant redhead lawyer getting inside a cab, stared after it as it drove away and finally admitted to himself—he had a problem. To be more precise, a love problem. To be even more precise and honest, his own love problem.


AN: It's revealed! The masterplan behind the "Damn Elevator" and the two masterminds that have been there since the very beginning :) I don't believe in evil elevators but I do believe in cunning manipulative elder siblings that love you to death and would be crazy enough to hack elevators, if it meant your chance at happiness, lol. We need more of them in our world!

Congratulations to lyarvon for her guess being absolutely right!

P.S.: This is the end of the Itachi arc, but there will be one more Christmas special coming in a few weeks, featuring my beloved Gaara!