After leaving Sasuke's place Naruto decided to forgo public transportation. The business district wasn't too far from his campus, so he pulled out his cigarettes and walked the thirty minutes it took for him to get to his apartment. Seven cigarettes later he'd made it to the slightly run-down building. When he reached the fourth floor and turned the corner that lead to his apartment he nearly turned back and made a run for it.
Sakura was sitting with her back to his door. When she sensed his presence she turned to him with angry, red eyes. He could swear he saw smoke blow from her little nostrils. "Naruto," she seethed and stood up. Naruto gave her his best grin as he moved towards his apartment. She waited for him to unlock the door and let them both in. She carefully took off her shoes, contemplating for a moment if she should use them as weapons.
Once they were inside and the door was closed she let loose, "You fuckwit! Where the hell were you? Do you have any, and I mean any idea how fucking WORRIED I was?"
"I'm sorry!" He pleaded and kicked off his shoes before cautiously approaching his fuming friend. He placed his hands on her shoulders and rubbed up and down to soothe her temper. "I'm really sorry. My phone died and I had a… really long night." He felt his temper flair a bit at the thought of that bastard, Sasuke.
Sakura's eyes softened at his tired expression. She sighed and walked over to the couch to collapse. She'd spent so many hours thinking her best friend was dead that now she was completely worn out. Sure, sometimes Naruto wouldn't answer his pone or a text, but his phone sent read receipts so she always knew that, at the very least, he was alive. Plus his phone rarely ever went straight to voicemail. When she'd called his dad and heard he wasn't there she panicked and thought the worst. She'd been sitting outside his apartment for the past four hours in the fetal position.
"Urgh!" She laid back and covered her face with both hands. "I swear you're going to be the death of me one day," she grumbled and Naruto smiled down at her. He walked around the couch and lifted her feet, sat down in the empty spot then placed her feet in his lap. She let her hands fall to her chest and glared up at Naruto. "Well, what happened?"
"What?" Naruto's cheeks grew warm. He looked away, "Oh."
"Oh? Oh what?" Sakura sat up. She tried to contain the grin that was tugging at the corners of her lips. Naruto's shy expression told her that there was something juicy he had to spill.
"It's nothing."
"Bullshit!" She called it, pushing him lightly. "Spill it. I think I deserve that much after you nearly gave me a damn ulcer waiting for you."
Naruto smiled nervously and scratched the back of his head. "Eh, well… I met this guy…"
"You met a guy?" Sakura's eyes grew wide. She grinned and did a cute little dance. "Oh, what's he like?" She asked as if she was in grade school asking her friend about the boy with the cute cooties.
Naruto frowned, his eyes narrowing as he thought over the past hour. "It's not like I'll be seeing him ever again." He grumbled and Sakura immediately deflated.
"What happened?"
Naruto shrugged. "We uh… had sex. To be honest, I've never had sex like this before. I mean…fuck," he ran a hand over his face and through his hair. "But it was just a one-night thing. He made that pretty clear." He rolled his eyes and huffed.
"You had sex with some random guy?" she asked incredulously.
"Yes, and before you ask doctor, we did use protection." He rolled his eyes and Sakura smiled.
"Oh, shut up! You don't know what I was gonna say." She pouted at him and Naruto quickly kissed her lips, making her cover her mouth. She gasped "You dick!" Naruto grinned and got up from the couch before Sakura's swinging hand could make dangerous contact. He danced around, taunting her and making obnoxious noises. "You brat!" She squawked, jumping from the couch and chasing after him.
They laughed, jumped over things and grabbed at each other. The talk about the one night stand was thrown aside for some juvenile horseplay. Sasuke wasn't worth being irritated over. Naruto knew that thinking a quick sexual encounter like that could possibly lead to anything was unrealistic. But, if Sasuke was going to disregard what happened, then so would he. All he had to do was forget the whole thing ever happened.
Naruto jumped out the way of another hand swinging towards him. He pivoted, and turned back towards Sakura, wrapping his arms around her waist to subdue her. "Okay, okay," he said between laughs. "I'm sorry." He rubbed his head against hers the way a cat would to their owner's leg. Sakura was still playfully pouting when Naruto lifted her up and carried her over to the couch.
"You're such a weirdo," Sakura grumbled, wiggling out of his grip just as he was about to set her down. She huffed and straightened her clothes as if none of that had just happened. Naruto chuckled and plopped back down. He grabbed the remote off of the coffee table and switched on the TV.
Sakura left the couch and walked over to the kitchen to pilfer through his fridge. She wasn't surprised when the only things present were a half-eaten container of peanut butter, expired milk, an array of condiments and beer. No real food. Naruto had been practically living with his father for the past few months, so she wasn't surprised.
Sakura sighed, slouching against the nearly empty fridge before she closed it. She'd spent all that time worrying and waiting for Naruto to return that she hadn't even thought of eating until now. She opened up a drawer where she knew Naruto kept all of his take-out menus and pulled out one for a ramen shop, Ichiraku.
"Want some take-out Ramen?" Sakura called from the kitchen. Naruto leaned back on the couch until his head was nearly upside down facing her.
He grinned, "Yes please." As if on cue, he felt a painful rumble churn through his stomach. It was like his insides were rearranging themselves in preparation for the salty noodles.
Naruto sat back normally on the couch and began flipping through channels as he heard Sakura giving out their orders over the phone. He flipped past a few channels before he landed on the news. They were rehashing a story from last week on some hotshot business owner returning to Japan. Something about the black car that pulled in front of the camera made Naruto's skin prickle.
"What's up?" Sakura asked as she sat back down on the couch. She must have finished placing their orders. Naruto shushed her, unusually interested in whatever celebrity news dribble was on today's headline.
"Holy shit," Naruto spoke softly. That creepy, smiley weird guy from earlier in Sasuke's place was on camera. He'd just gotten out of the driver's side. Naruto stood up and took a step closer to the screen. "It can't be him."
"Who?" Sakura asked, looking between the TV and her friend.
A tall woman with long red hair and glasses got out the car next. He could tell she was tall because that creepy guy was taller than him and she only looked an inch or two shorter. She was holding a small child with short black hair in her arms, maybe three or four years old. They were both wearing expensive dresses. The girl in her arms was playing with a Madame Alexander doll that had the same short black hair as her. The next person who got out of the car had Naruto collapsing back onto the couch.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me." He ran a hand through his hair. There he was, that fucking asshole.
"Naruto?" Sakura gave Naruto her concerned eyes. He was being weird, much weirder than the average Naruto weird. "What's the matter?"
"That's him." He said, pointing listlessly at the screen. Sakura looked back at the program. The recording of the family leaving the car stopped and turned into a small box at the corner of the screen.
The fluff reporter started rambling away, "Our Japanese Ambassador to the United States, Fugaku Uchiha, passed away last week. His youngest son, owner of Mangekyou Energy, has returned with his family after years overseas and will be continuing operations here in Tokyo! Now that the…" she continued.
"Wait…" Sakura side eyed the TV, then Naruto. "That's him? As in, why you didn't answer my calls, him?" Naruto nodded. Sakura made an "O" shape with her mouth.
"No fucking way..."
"I know..."
"He's married! He has a kid!"
"I know..."
"He's like, super rich too! He's famous."
"I know..."
Sakura tilted her head as she examined the man in the freeze-framed image. "He is hot though..."
Naruto squeezed his eyes closed and groaned. "I know..." He slumped into the couch and covered his face with his hands. This was too much. Sakura offered him a soothing hand and gently patted his shoulder.
A large part of him felt disgusted, but another part of him knew that if he had known any of this, there was no way he'd sleep with a married man. A married man with a child, that is. After all that happened to him between Neji and Kiba, the last thing he wanted to do was be some home wrecker. And the nerve of that bastard for doing that sort of thing behind his family's back. It made him so angry.
"Well," Naruto spoke, clearing his throat as he flipped past the channel. "Now I know he's a bigger dick than I thought he was."
Sakura left that night around midnight. Her boyfriend, Lee, drove over and picked her up. He'd told Naruto he was glad to see him looking better. Naruto smiled and waved the two off before returning to his apartment. He spent the rest of the night doing homework until around 3am when he fell asleep.
Sunday morning he woke up around 11am. He felt a bit better than yesterday, though he'd be lying if he said his ass was feeling completely normal. Plus, he was still feeling pissed off at the new information he'd learned about that bastard, Sasuke. What was more irritating was that he couldn't stop thinking about him. Or how it felt to be with him… The way he kissed him and touched him. Just imaging it set his skin on fire.
Today was supposed to be the "double-date" with Sakura, Lee, and Hinata. It made him nervous to think about it, but was glad because it served as a distraction from those more unsavory thoughts that plagued his mind regarding a certain someone.
Sakura sent him a text telling him to meet her at the movie theater over in Akihabara at 1pm. He relayed the time over to Hinata then fell back on his bed, curling into himself and hugging a pillow over his face.
At 12:30 Naruto crawled out of bed to his bathroom to get ready. He was fifteen minutes late by the time he'd gotten to the movie theater. Sakura, Lee and Hinata were waiting outside of the ticket stand for him.
"You're late," Sakura pointed out.
Naruto scratched the back of his unruly hair and chuckled, "My bad." He turned his attention to Lee and smiled. After that his eyes landed on Hinata and he suddenly felt awkward. Hinata was a beautiful girl, short with silky long hair. She looked like she could've been a goddess in another life, but in this reality she was just an awkward girl with those same eyes he'd tried his damnedest to forget over the past twelve months.
"Naruto!" Lee's boisterous voice broke the tension. "It's been quite a while since we've had the chance to hang out. What a glorious day this will be!" he walked over and threw a heavy arm over Naruto's shoulder.
"Yeah," Naruto winced at the tight grip. "Sure has. Good to see you, man." He let out a small sigh of relief when Lee released his grip. Naruto once again turned to face Hinata and managed a genuine smile. "Hey Hinata."
Hinata smiled softly, the nervous look on her face seemed to melt away from the warmth of Naruto's greeting. She stepped up, the heels of her sandals tapping sweetly against the concrete as she approached him, and gently wrapped her arms around his waist. "Hello Naruto. I've missed you." Naruto leaned into the embraces, enjoying the sound of her small voice as she held him.
They broke apart and Naruto left her with a light peck on her forehead as he used to do when they were in elementary school and would claim her as his pretend girlfriend.
"Okay!" Sakura cut in as if she'd been holding her breath. "Shall we? We've already missed the previews by now."
"Oh no, not the previews!" Naruto mock whined. Sakura rolled her eyes and playfully smacked his arm.
"Hey! You know they're the best part."
"It's not like you can't just watch them on YouTube later."
"It's so much better on the big screen though!"
Lee and Hinata watched the two bicker from behind and smiled at each other. At the food stand Naruto and Sakura continued to go back and forth until the cashier appeared.
Sakura turned and gave the teenager a big smile, "Two large popcorns please." When the worker began ringing up their order, Lee reached for his wallet to pay, but Naruto held his hand out and shook his head.
"I got it," Naruto said and grinned. He reached into his back pocket, only to find a half empty pack of cigarettes. He patted around his other pockets with squinted eyes. When it became clear that he didn't have his wallet, he straightened and scratched the back of his head with a goofy smile. "Uh, or not."
Sakura shook her head, "You forgot your wallet?" Lee handed the cashier his debit card.
"I guess so…" he rarely left stuff like that behind so it was hard to imagine. He probably just forgot to pick it up on the way out. It would be on his nightstand when he got home, he was sure.
It wasn't on his nightstand. And after 2 hours of scrounging through his apartment, he was convinced that it wasn't there at all.
Exhausted from his search, Naruto plopped onto his couch and let his head fall back. He stared up at the ceiling. Losing his ID, a couple credit cards and a little cash wasn't the end of the world. But that wallet was the one his mother had bought him for his twentieth birthday. The wallet she couldn't even personally give him, but that his father had given him several days after the funeral as an afterthought. It irritated him that he could be so careless.
He'd checked everywhere for it. He knew that, unless he'd dropped it on the street, then the only other place it could be was…
"Ugh," he groaned and covered his tired eyes with both hands. The last thing he wanted to do was crawl back to that bastard after the way he was treated. But, he did feel bad for losing his wallet. He could almost see his mother standing over him with her hands on her hips.
He let his hands fall, crossed his arms and pouted. Maybe he could stop by and ask him about it. He did know where he worked.
He thought about that for a moment.
"Hell no." He answered and shook his head at the thought. Sasuke humiliated him, treated him like garbage he'd forgotten to take out.
Naruto was glaring at his wall above his TV now, imagining Sasuke's smug face.
If that bastard had his wallet, wouldn't he have brought it to him by now? Or, at the very least, had his servant do it. He refused to believe that some part of him actually wanted to see that prick. Or that thinking about it, amidst the anger, there was a little bit of excitement bubbling up in his chest at the thought of coming face to face with that arrogant, cheating bastard. Because if he were to admit something like that, then he'd be convinced that he was sick and perhaps needed to be committed as soon as possible.
And even if he did, theoretically, see him again, it would only be to tell him off for being an insensitive prick.
But he wouldn't see him. Point was, he probably didn't have his wallet anyway so there was no point.
He'd promised himself he'd forget about him, so he would.
A week passed and Naruto was back to doing what he did best: working odd hours, class, sleep, and repeat. Yet, still no sign of his wallet. It was just a chunk of leather. It wasn't as if being so attached to such a thing would bring her back.
Beside that, things did feel like they were turning up for Naruto. Since the outing at the movies, Naruto'd been spending less time at his father's home, and more time in his apartment. Sakura came over more often, and sometimes Ino or Shikamaru and Chouji, or even occasionally Hinata. It was refreshing. It felt like his life was becoming normal again. And, to top it off, he had only thought about Sasuke thirty seven times, and only during ten of those times did he get hard.
The only thing that had him on edge was his birthday. It was coming up in a few days and he knew he'd have to visit his mother's grave with his dad. It seemed like every time he thought about his mom he'd fall apart. Thinking about his mother down there in that coffin just made him want to throw up. And the longer he thought about that upcoming day where he'd have to look down at her grave, the worse he felt about losing his wallet. After thinking about it over the week, he decided he'd have to try to get it back, he just didn't like what he'd have to do to get it.
2am on Friday, he'd gotten into work a little over an hour ago and was mixing drinks behind the busy bar.
"Yo! Naruto," Ino, a bubbly, longhaired blond, waved with a large smile while dragging an unamused looking Shikamaru behind her. Naruto was wiping out the inside of a glass when he spotted them approaching and waved back.
The couple crammed their way past the other patrons until they were somewhat settled at the bar.
"Hey guys," Naruto leaned over and gave his fellow blond a light kiss on the cheek, then leaned back and offered Shikamaru a friendly nod. "What's up?"
Shikamaru shrugged, looking like he didn't want to be there. It wasn't a farfetched idea that Ino dragged him out beyond his will. "Ask her?" Shikamaru spoke, sounding irritated, "Can I get a beer?" Naruto looked to Ino for a second who was grinning innocently before turning his back to the pair. He bent down and grabbed a bottled Heineken from the mini fridge and popped the cap off with ease.
He turned back to his friends. "We only have bottles tonight, no more drafts," he said as he handed Shikamaru the open bottle. Shikamaru shrugged and gulped down a bit of the offered beer. Naruto looked back at Ino and opened his mouth to speak when a new customer caught his eye. He held one finger up to signal for her to wait, then went to take their order.
2 mojitos later he was back and putting away the dirty glasses that were left at the bar along with a few crumpled bills.
"So?" Naruto started and couldn't help but smile along with Ino, even though he still wasn't sure why she was so strangely giddy. Either she was really excited about something or she was already half drunk.
"Naruto," She dragged out his name sweetly and leaned further over the bar. "Your birthday's in a few days," Naruto's smile faded, even as Ino's grew. "We wanted to wait," she continued, "But you wouldn't have time to prepare if we did. So…" Ino reached into her purse and pulled out two tickets. "Happy Early Birthday! This is from everyone."
Naruto looked down at the tickets, then up at Shikamaru, who was looking uncomfortable, before looking back at Ino. He slowly took them from her hands and held them closer to his face. He read them, then looked back up at Ino. "Tickets to Kyushu?"
The words seemed to trigger something in Ino that made her jump and giggle. "Yes! You know that onsen that's like, totally famous or whatever, we're going! Isn't that great? You totally need a relaxing vacation to take your mind off of things."
Naruto tried to smile. He looked over at Shikamaru who was strategically avoiding eye contact.
"What about my job? I can't just leave for…" he checked the ticket's return date. "Four days."
"Oh no, it's okay! We've been planning this for a while. We spoke to your manager about it and everything." Ino's enthusiastic smile was faltering now. Naruto wasn't looking the least bit excited.
"Here we go." Shikamaru muttered, and only Ino seemed to hear him. She nudged him hard with her elbow while focusing her concerned eyes on Naruto. Shikamaru grumbled and rubbed his side, but didn't comment further.
"Naruto come on, it's your twenty-first birthday. We wanted to do something fun." Naruto looked away, but Ino did her best to keep some form of eye contact. "Don't you want to go?"
"Look, I'm sorry you spent so much money on it," Naruto said and held the tickets back out to her. Ino suddenly looked like she'd been smacked.
"Naruto," she pleaded, not making a move to accept them. He shook his head.
"I'm sorry Ino," when he realized she wasn't going to take them back he sat them down on the bar. A man at the bar whom he'd previously served a shot of tequila was raising his hand for another drink. Naruto offered an apologetic smile before turning and tending to the needy man.
Ino bit her lip as she watched her friend. Shikamaru grabbed her hand and nodded towards the exit, signaling to her that it was time to go. One thing Naruto was and would never stop being is hard headed. If he made up his mind about not going, they weren't going to change that.
Once they were gone, Naruto went back to their spot to clean up after Shikamaru's half drunken beer and noticed that the plane tickets he'd given back to Ino were still there. He was tempted to throw them away, but felt that wasn't the right thing to do. He'd try to give them back again in the morning and hopefully sound less like an ungrateful prick. He sighed when he looked at them and slipped them into his breast pocket.
They didn't get it.
He didn't care about his birthday. It only reminded him of what he was missing. If he was being honest with himself, he just wanted to be alone. Why couldn't they have just given him an Ichiraku gift certificate and called it a day? Going to Kyushu, staying at some fancy Onsen, he knew he wouldn't be able to enjoy himself.
Naruto shook his head and whispered, "I'm an asshole."
After Naruto's shift the sun was in the middle of its rise. He walked out of the alley with a lit cigarette in his mouth. He had been mentally preparing for this since the beginning of his shift. All he had to do was go in there, figure out where the bastard's office was, and ask about his wallet. Easy. Super easy, actually.
He sighed and scratched the back of his head. After a few more puffs of his cigarette he tossed it and set off towards his favorite coffee shop, located in the building where they first met.
Walking into the office building for what was probably the hundredth time, for the first time, felt a little odd for Naruto. Maybe it was because he wasn't just going to the small coffee shop to chat with TenTen and get his caffeine fix. It could also be because he was walking in the same direction as a bunch of stuffy men and women in designer suits and dresses and here he was dressed in his alcohol stained jeans and Club Locust T-shirt. Or maybe because he knew that he smelled like sweat and cigarettes and the people around him didn't hide the fact that they could smell it too. Between the side-eyed looks and the stifling, hard-to-breathe air, there were a number of reasons for him to turn around and say "To hell with the wallet!"
As he made his way through the building, he repeatedly asked himself: Why was he even doing this? He mulled over that question as he approached the elevators he remembered Sasuke getting on. He couldn't stop his fidgeting as more workers stood around him. He peeked over to a sign by the elevator doors that listed out a number of companies. The floors jumped from one to ten, then all the way up to thirty. He scanned through them until he reached the company listed as the top floor: "Mangekyou Energy". It was the company that news reporter was blabbing about on the story about Sasuke's family. Naruto grit his teeth when the thought settled in.
Family.
How could he be so careless?
The elevator doors opened. It took him out of his thoughts and back into reality. Staring inside the elevator he hesitated, letting some people push past him to get inside. He wondered if this was strange; if he should even be here. He also wondered why he cared so much. What reason did he have to be so nervous?
When the last person waiting went in, he followed after them. The button for the thirtieth floor was already pressed and lit up, so he straightened and waited patiently as they started moving up.
Again, Naruto could feel the heat of the other occupants staring at him, likely wondering if he was lost. He cleared his throat and let his eyes roam upwards, avoiding any possible eye contact.
After the first few stops, there were only two other people riding up with him. The next stop was the top floor. Upon seeing this, he quickly ran his fingers through his messy blond hair and checked his reflection in the shiny doors of the elevator. When he realized what he was doing he quickly put his hand down to his side and looked away. Who the hell did he have to impress anyway? Even so, he felt his cheeks getting warm at the thought. He didn't bother thinking about why.
On top floor, the doors opened revealing a very sleek looking office space. However, a security desk and glass doors that required a key card to enter guarded the section where he assumed people worked.
Naruto stepped out along with the remaining two people. They zoomed past him and he watched them scan themselves through the glass doors. Distracted by their movement, he hadn't realized the security guard was staring right at him.
"Excuse me," a deep voice cut across the room, a sudden noise that made Naruto jump.
Naruto turned to the security guard and walked over to the desk to get a better look at him. He was a burly looking man with bright strawberry-orange hair. He was glaring at him, obviously thinking that Naruto didn't belong. His nametag read: Juugo.
Naruto stopped in front of the desk and cleared his throat. "I'm here to see Sasuke," he said with an amount of confidence that he wished he felt.
The security guard, Juugo, looked even more irritated by the statement. "Sasuke?" Juugo grunted out the name as if it was something unheard of. "Do you mean Uchiha-sama?"
Without thinking, Naruto rolled his eyes and it lit a fire in Juugo's eyes that made Naruto change his tune. He shook his head and grinned, "Oh yeah, Uchiha-sama. That's right."
Juugo continued to glare, looking more skeptical with each second that passed.
After an uncomfortable moment of silence, Juugo looked away and said, "Uchiha-sama is not expecting you. You'll have to leave."
Naruto's mouth fell open. "What? I didn't even give you my name."
"I don't need it." Juugo looked away and busied himself with some puzzle he'd been working on before Naruto showed up. Naruto grit his teeth at the man who was now obviously ignoring him.
Fed up, he all but growled at him, "Hey asshole, I said I need to see Sasuke Uchiha."
Juugo glared up at Naruto again, "And I said he isn't available, so beat it."
"Fuck that. I need to ask him something."
Juugo smirked and nodded his head in a smug show of interest, "Oh I'm sure."
Naruto glared, "Are you seriously mocking me?"
"Look, punk." Juugo stood up then, and Naruto realized for the first time just how tall this man was. He towered over him by at least a foot. Naruto felt some of his spunk drain from him, but refused to show any real sign of weakness. "People like you come in here all the time with the same story. This is a business not a museum. If you're done, you can show yourself out...or," he crossed two muscular arms over his chest. "I can show you out myself."
Naruto glared up at the man, irritated that the man's attempt to intimidate him was actually working.
Shit.
He might as well give it up. This Juugo guy was clearly unwilling to budge. Regardless of what it meant to have it, It was just a wallet anyway. "Whatever," Naruto breathed out as he turned to leave. Just then, the elevator doors opened.
"I told that dumbass not to send that email too! And now we've got to send over the analytics by tomorrow and they aren't even halfway done. That fucking moron!" A young looking man with silver hair was ranting to Sasuke as they walked through.
When they got close enough to the security desk Sasuke stopped when he saw Naruto standing there. The silver haired man beside him didn't seem to notice. He continued on, "You won't believe what that guy said to me. I swear I should've fired him right there…" finally, the silver haired man paused when he noticed Sasuke wasn't beside him and looked back.
Naruto straightened his posture and cleared his throat.
Sasuke looked from Naruto to Juugo who immediately began stammering, "Oh! Good morning, Uchiha-sama. I apologize. I was just getting rid of…" he struggled to find the right word, "that." He said the word like it tasted bad on his tongue and gestured to Naruto. Sasuke's eyes followed his movement.
Naruto glared at Juugo, then at Sasuke. Then, without hesitation he marched up to Sasuke, ignoring Juugo's protests or the sound of him coming around his desk to stop him.
"Hey, I need to ask you something." Naruto said, and just as he got close Juugo's strong hand grabbed his arm.
"Watch it, kid." Juugo hissed at him.
Naruto turned to give him a piece of his mind but paused when Sasuke spoke up, "It's fine, Juugo."
"But…" Juugo went to protest, but was silenced by Sasuke's glare. He quickly let go of Naruto's arm and skulked back to his desk, glaring at Naruto the whole way.
Naruto brushed off his arm, tempted to stick his tongue out at the security guard bastard, but decided he wouldn't be as childish as he wanted to, and not because he was worried about what Sasuke would think of him. That would be ridiculous.
Sasuke looked at Naruto before saying, "Come on," then turned towards the glass doors.
Sasuke went over to the ID scanner, followed by the silver haired man who kept curiously peeking over at Naruto. He scanned them in and walked through the doors that slid open for them. Just inside a pretty woman sitting behind a desk stood up and bowed. "Good morning Uchiha-sama." She turned to the silver haired man and bowed again, "Hozuki-sama." She looked to Naruto and faltered. Unsure of what to make of him, she gave him a forced smile and slowly sat back down. She clearly thought his appearance was distasteful. Regardless of her uncomfortable expression, Naruto grinned, trying to act less out of place than he felt.
Sasuke and his companion walked ahead and when he realized they were on the move, Naruto followed behind them. The sterile office space was suffocating. As they walked by Naruto could hear people whispering about them, probably wondering about the blond nobody their king "Uchiha-sama" was totting around.
As they walked through the long hallways Naruto overheard the silver haired man whisper to Sasuke, "Hey. Who the hell is this kid?"
Sasuke looked at him and smirked, "Nobody."
Naruto's eyes narrowed, "Prick." He said under his breath. Sasuke looked back at him, obviously hearing him, but didn't say anything.
They got to the end of the hall and stood before a set of double doors. "Well," the silver haired man turned to them, namely Naruto, and grinned. "I should probably get to my office." Naruto glared at him. Something about the guy just pissed him off. He had the same air of entitlement and arrogance that Sasuke had.
Sasuke ignored his friend's behavior as he unlocked and opened the door to his office. "Get me that paperwork for the merger by noon," was all he said as he went in.
"Aye-aye," the silver haired man raised his hand to salute, then turned to Naruto and winked. After that he was gone, disappearing behind the door to the left. When Naruto looked back into Sasuke's office, he was already sitting down behind a large wooden desk placed in front of a curved panel of windows.
The office was enormous, which didn't surprise Naruto. There were two large sofas facing each other in front of Sasuke's desk and a coffee table in the middle that separated them. On one wall there was an expansive bookshelf with a number of English books with titles Naruto couldn't pronounce and on another there was a litter of certificates and company awards.
After letting his eyes roam around and take in his surroundings, they landed on Sasuke, whose eyes were now focused on a stack of papers. Without looking up Sasuke said, "Close the door."
Naruto did as he was told then walked over to stand in front of Sasuke's desk. He stood there for a full minute before Sasuke looked up at him.
"To what do I owe this visit?"
Naruto glared at his pompous statement, "My wallet. I think I left it at your place. It's important to me so if you have it, give it back."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed, as if he was thinking that over. Then, he looked back down at his paperwork, "If it's there, I will have Sai bring it to you." He said dismissively and began crossing things out on one of the sheets. "Is that all?"
Naruto grit his teeth. What the hell was wrong with this guy? Did he think it was okay to talk and treat people this way? Did he have no sense of common decency? Naruto slammed his hand down on the thick desk and barked out, "No, that's not all!" His outburst startled Sasuke, but not enough for him to do anything but pause and look up. Naruto continued, "You're a real scumbag, you know that? I can't even believe I slept with someone like you."
"Someone like me?" Sasuke's eyes narrowed. He placed his elbows on the desk and laced his fingers together.
"Are you kidding me? You're an asshole, a cheater and a pompous, arrogant prick!"
Sasuke scoffed and it irritated Naruto to see that he thought this was funny.
"What's so funny?"
Sasuke shook his head, his dark eyes amused while his expression remained stoic. "It's humorous that you think your little temper tantrum is justified."
"Temper tantrum?" Naruto repeated the words in a voice laced with anger and frustration. "You're so full of it. You don't even think you did anything wrong."
Sasuke leaned back in his swiveling chair and looked up, feigning confusion, "Oh? I don't recall forcing anything on you. In fact, I recall you begging and moaning and..."
"Stop!" Naruto held his hands out towards Sasuke and turned his face away. His skin was feeling hot and he knew he was getting red from Sasuke's words.
Sasuke sat up straight again, "You really are an idiot, aren't you?" It wasn't really a question.
Naruto dropped his hands and turned his glare onto Sasuke, regardless of his flushed face. Sasuke smirked at him.
"Naruto," Sasuke said slowly and Naruto couldn't help the way his body tingled from hearing his name said with that silky, deep voice. Sasuke stood up. "Tell me something," he continued, walking around the desk to where Naruto was. "Did you really just come here to get your wallet and yell at me like a moron?" Sasuke stopped and stood in front of him so close that Naruto had to back against the desk to keep them from touching. Sasuke smirked at Naruto's colorless expression. The next words came out so low that Naruto stopped breathing to hear it, "Or did you come here because you wanted to feel it again?"
They were almost touching. Sasuke was leaning over him like a lion ready to eat his prey. Naruto felt like he was going to choke from lack of circulating oxygen.
"Uchiha-sama," a radio-warped female voice cut in from the telephone speaker on the desk. Both Naruto and Sasuke turned to look at it. "I've got Yakushi-sama at Hebi International Studios on line 1." The message ended. Naruto could feel himself beginning to sweat.
Sasuke backed away, unfazed and walked back to his seat.
Naruto turned his head to see Sasuke sit down and prepare to pick up the phone, but before he did he looked up at Naruto and said, "I'll have Sai bring you your wallet if he finds it." He looked down after that, hit one of the digits on the phone and picked up the receiver. "Yes," he answered. "I'm aware. Our team is delivering that to you now…"
Naruto stood there dumbly for a moment, and then realized he needed to get out of there because he still wasn't breathing properly. Without another word he walked out of the office and closed the door. In the hallway he took a deep, deep breath.
What the hell was that?
It was like Sasuke had some sort of sick magical powers, and they were way too effective in making Naruto brain dead. Whenever Sasuke gets too close, Naruto just turns into a ball of stupid pudding. He held a hand over his heart and felt it pounding like crazy in his chest.
"Jesus." He whispered to himself.
A woman carrying a briefcase walked by, pausing for a second to stare at Naruto. He stood up straight and grinned at her. She narrowed her eyes and made a face that looked almost like a snarl then walked off. Naruto shook his head. Yeah, he needed to get out of there.
