Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, although I would like to - you'd think with all the spinoffs and alternate universes, they could humour us poor sasunaru fans, don't you think?
Summary: Uchiha Sasuke left his friends behind to follow in his father's footsteps. 7 years later, he finds himself in an elevator with the last person he wanted to see. Will he walk away again? Will Naruto let him? Rating may change!
A/N: Wow! So much positivity in such a short time; I hope I can live up to it! Shoutout to strikedeathkd53019 for calling it! Hahaha nicely done! How did you know?
Strictly Professional
Chapter 2: Meetings
It took more restraint than Sasuke would like to admit for him not to hit the emergency stop button. What the hell was that! How many years had it been? They see each other after such an explosive goodbye and that was the greeting he got?!
He had always imagined that if they had ever seen each other again, Naruto would say hello with his fist. So this—this kind of calm was…weird. Unexpected. Wrong. This was wrong.
"What took you so long?"
The doors were open, Sasuke realized. And waiting for him was his business partner, with a blank expression that could almost rival his own. Almost.
"Hyuuga-san," Sasuke nodded. "There was traffic. And an idiot." Let Neji make of that what he would.
"Hm."
"Hey guys," a familiar-looking, shaggy-haired man was addressing them. "Neji, Sasuke," the man grinned, "you two don't look like you've changed a bit."
The man stuck out his hand. No one moved.
He rolled his eyes. "It's Kiba. Inuzuka Kiba, from high school?" Well, today was full of blasts from the past. And that certainly explained the smell of dog,
Neji did an admirable job of shaking hands while making as little contact as physically possible. Sasuke followed his lead.
"Quiet as always, eh?" Kiba said, completely unfazed. "I'm the receptionist. You can go right in, the boss'll be up in just a minute."
Eager to get away from the man, they entered the office—which, upon first glance, appeared relatively normal. Standard, beige walls, not particularly big but big enough to show high standing—maybe a few more windows than were strictly standard, but to each their own. Still, something was off about the place.
Maybe it was the way the chair was not, in fact, reflecting the light in a strange way, but was accented with a very specific obnoxious orange. He desperately wanted to look at the picture frame that was angled just so that the two chairs (positioned for himself and Neji, he presumed) could not see behind it, but he wasn't in the habit of invading the privacy of others—at least, not when Neji was there to see him do it. His eyes were drawn to the other remarkable thing on the desk: a strange statue of a toad. It looked…oddly familiar. Too familiar. In fact, he could swear…but there was no way…
The door opened.
Naruto stepped through the elevator doors and grinned at Kiba. Kiba gave him a wink and a thumbs up.
"Do they have any idea?" Naruto whispered.
"Not a clue."
"Awesome." The foxlike grin was back for just a moment, before Naruto readied himself and opened the door.
"Ah, Uchiha-san, Hyuuga-san, I'm glad to see you both made it here with this traffic," he said, upon entering the room.
They had both stood up as soon as they had heard the door start to open, but both were now frozen in a halfway motion of an outreached hand.
Neji was the first to recover.
"The years have been good to you, Uzumaki-san," they shook hands, Naruto heartily clapping the top of Neji's hand with a smile.
"You don't look so bad yourself—and call me Naruto. I think we've known each other long enough by now, right?"
"Then you must call me Neji. I agree that it is strange to hear such unfamiliarity from you," Neji's expression was almost fond as he looked over Naruto and took a seat. Naruto took his lead and circled around to his desk, leaning back in his chair and letting the sun hit the orange stripes properly.
"And you," Naruto said, directly addressing Sasuke for the first time, "Uchiha-san. You are looking well."
Neji raised his eyebrows.
"Appearances can be deceiving," Sasuke spoke without thinking, and a stifling silence followed it.
"Call me Sasuke," he followed with, quietly. Sasuke must have been panicking to change his voice in any noticeable way.
"Sasuke," Naruto smiled. It was that stupid strange smile again, "and Neji, we should catch up over lunch sometime. But first, let's get down to business. I cleared my morning for the most part, but I do have another meeting in an hour and a half."
Neji nodded, and pulled out a folder out of his briefcase. Sasuke didn't move. Naruto smiled.
The meeting continued without issue, and afterwards, Neji and Naruto exchanged phone numbers and emails to keep in touch. Sasuke tightly informed Neji that he would see him at work—all but dismissing him. Neji glanced briefly at the two of them, and left quietly, but not before giving Naruto one last smile.
There was a reason Sasuke hated surprises, and everything about today spoke as to why. They never ended well for Sasuke.
Naruto's eyes were softer now that they were alone, or maybe it was because he understood that this was not Sasuke's regular silence.
"Sasuke-" he began.
"CEO," Sasuke breathed, finally. Naruto looked at him and smiled a little brighter.
"Yeah."
"How long?"
"Just a couple months, but I've been with Kyuubi for forever," Naruto waved a hand.
Sasuke nodded, and swallowed. The lump in his throat hadn't lessened any, and silence ruled the room again.
"Um, listen," Naruto put a hand being his head to scratch at a nervous itch—something familiar, finally, "I really do have another meeting. In like—" his eyes darted to the clock above Sasuke shoulders, "two minutes…but we should talk sometime."
"Yeah—yes." Sasuke cleared his throat, "we should. I'll give you my number."
Naruto stared at the closed elevator doors.
"How did it go?" Kiba sidled up to him.
"The business was fine," Naruto's eyes didn't leave the doors. "They didn't budge on a couple things. I didn't really expect them to."
"Naruto," Kiba's tone made Naruto look at him, "I wasn't asking about the business."
The blond sighed. "I know. It was weird. Sasuke was…Neji was downright nice, I think."
"Dude," Kiba's eyebrows nearly reached his hairline, "I think you need to raise your standards."
"No, I mean it. And I think…I think Sasuke was…nervous."
"Aw, shit! Why couldn't you have gotten me in to take notes or something? I missed all the good stuff!"
"Welcome back, Sasuke."
Sasuke nearly jumped at the voice, but managed to keep his composure at the sight of his father in his apartment.
"Father."
The tall, burly man gave a grimace that was supposed to be his greeting smile. He had never quite mastered the "friendly" look. He was standing at the kitchen counter, casually pouring tea—it was a calm, gentle task that his rough hands were unsuited to.
"Hello, Sasuke. Would you like some tea?" There was something entirely wrong about the question, but Sasuke quietly accepted anyways.
There was silence.
"How is your work going?" His father knew perfectly well how work was going. He knew everything about the company. Sasuke humoured him.
"It was interesting. We met with Kyuubi industries this morning." Might as well get that out there. Sasuke sipped his tea.
"So I heard." A pause. "And there was a familiar face in your meeting, wasn't there?"
Et tu, Neji?
"Yes."
Fugaku sipped his tea. Sasuke watched him warily.
"He is the CEO, father."
"Yes," he spoke quietly. Dangerously. "A very prestigious position." He sipped his tea. Sasuke clenched his fist under the table.
"I think it would be best to end negotiations with Kyuubi Industries."
Sasuke nearly threw up. He let his eyes blink for a moment longer than normal.
"It has been years, father."
Fugaku looked him up and down. "And yet, nothing has changed," he sighed. "I am disappointed."
"I—"
"Control yourself, Sasuke."
Sasuke unclenched his teeth. "I am under control."
"Hm," another pause. "Do you take me for a fool, Sasuke? Do you believe me to be blind?"
Sasuke didn't reply. He wasn't sure what he would spit out if his did.
"No. This boy exerts the same terrible influence as always," he furrowed his brows, examining Sasuke. "Only one meeting, and it is like you never aged."
"Father, I—"
"It is shameful."
"You haven't even seen him!" Sasuke burst out. Fugaku gave him a disappointed, yet strangely satisfied look.
"I do not need to. You have regressed, Sasuke. You need to do what is best for yourself. You will close negotiations and wash your hands of this mess permanently."
And that was that.
A/N: And that's the first official chapter! Was it what you expected? Better? Worse? Where do you see this story going, now that you know more?
Let me know! See you tomorrow!
- Kinomi
