Chapter 3

Six hours later, an exhausted Konoha corp. board trudged out of the meeting room, Naruto in the lead. Sakura and Ino, who both looked as if they had been dragged through a cornfield, glared at the blond boy with disbelief. He was beaming, his face was glowing, and he had so much god damn energy.

WHERE DID HE STORE IT ALL!

"I can't believe it! We got through two days of work in just six hours! Ino, that was incredible!" The blond woman tried to suppress and smug smile. The prep work she had been doing for the deal had been incredibly thorough, and she had had everything ready to be filled, filed, and stored. "And Sakura, your presentation was perfect! Even I didn't know we raked in that kind of cash this year!" Sakura blushed with pleasure. Any begrudging feelings the girl had had for the blond diminished.

"What do you mean even you?" Kiba said, grinning wickedly despite his exhaustion. "You, out of all of us, are the least likely to know! You know those papers you use to make baskets in your garbage can? Those are the annual reports, moron." Naruto glared, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Says Mr. "who-needs-deadlines-when-you-have-pure-chaos"." He grumbled. Kiba was about to respond, when a cold chill entered the hall. Naruto froze- he suddenly had this very ominous feeling.

"Naruto." Sasuke's voice came out low and calm. That didn't fool anyone. He was radiating fury. The blond swallowed. "We need to talk." The others vanished so fast that Naruto didn't even have time to beg them to stay.

"Gee, thanks a lot, turncoats." He grumbled, and glanced up shyly at Sasuke. The Uchiha was staring at him with such anger that his eyes could have almost been glowing a demonic red.

"You are a dobe." Naruto swallowed, and gave Sasuke a playful grin. There was no getting out of this one- maybe if he could just argue the rage out of Sasuke, he could lessen the blow.

"In my defense, I technically wasn't late, because you weren't there either!" Sasuke stared at him with cold disbelief.

"I LEFT to go find YOU." He growled back, grinding his teeth.

"Now you're just splitting hairs. The fact is, you weren't there, so it doesn't count as being late if I wasn't there." Sasuke tried to control himself, but the next sentence held undeniable frustration.

"It made us look like fools- the most important meeting in our careers, and because of YOU we looked like fools! TEME!" Naruto huffed.

"Well, it didn't seem to do us any harm, now did it? We're way ahead of schedule, and it's only the first day." Sasuke felt his anger deflate a little. That was true. "Besides, Gaara-san was late too." Anger was back.

"And what exactly were you thinking? What the hell were you doing with him?" Naruto gave Sasuke a confused glance.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke scowled.

"You know what I mean!" He snapped. "That scene! In the hall!" Naruto blushed.

"Oh."

"YES! OH!" The blond coughed and shifted.

"Well, like I was saying at the time, I was running down the hall, and there was this package, and I tripped over it. So my papers went everywhere. So I was trying to get them together, when all the sudden Gaara pops up out of nowhere and starts helping me, only I noticed that one of the papers he picked up was his own bio…" Sasuke felt his stomach take a sickening plunge. "…So I snatched it away, all the sudden he goes 'you're blushing' and then started touching me." For some reason, the way Naruto said that caused a stream of images that had nothing to do with this morning- Gaara touching Naruto's hair, his lips, his chest, his….

"…He was being totally creepy! Maybe he just did it to get back at me?" Sasuke was snapped from the twisted thoughts that were invading his head, making him feel irrationally irritated.

"What?"

"You know, to get back at me for the bio he saw. Maybe he was trying to psych me out or something." Sasuke just stared at him. His mind didn't seem to be able to properly process words yet. Why couldn't he get the impossibly infuriating image of Gaara and Naruto out of his head?

"He should NEVER have seen that bio. Unwritten rule of business: Find out everything you can, and do it QUIETLY." Sasuke's voice had lost some of its edge. He found his anger at Naruto fading into annoyance at himself.

Why couldn't his mind just SHUT UP?

Naruto pouted.

"It's not like I meant for this to happen! And don't worry- It won't happen again. I'd rather avoid anymore run-ins like this morning with that Gaara guy. He's weird." Sasuke felt an odd pressure vanish from his chest, and he let out a low breath.

"Try leaving before the time you're supposed to be here. That always works for me." Sasuke grumbled darkly, and Naruto glared sullenly at him.

"Jackass."

"Idiot."

And from there, their day began to resume its normal pace.

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Gaara flicked slowly through the files on his computer. Names crossed the top of the screen, followed by pictures. Sasuke's team wasn't the only one that had easy access to information. Very few people were willing to say no to Gaara, and when they did it never stopped him.

Sasuke Uchiha. Gaara's finger stilled over the keyboard. Under the title was the image of the sullen raven-haired boy. Gaara's eyes narrowed. Uchiha. He felt an undeniable hatred of the boy. Gaara had been dragged through the mud. Foster home after foster home, empty welcomes, cold shoulders…Never in control. Never in power. Gaara clenched his fists. He WAS power now. No one could touch him. No one would DARE. He had clawed his way to the top, taking down anyone in his way.

Yet, here was Sasuke Uchiha.

It was unbelievable irritating, that he needed him. That without this contract he could never be entirely on top. Both their companies would benefit. But it was infuriating. The money, the power, the status.

Uchiha didn't deserve it.

So Gaara was going to take it from him. Take everything from him.

Another click and a new image appeared. Glowing blond hair, brilliant blue eyes.

Starting with him.

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Author's notes:

Official member of LKTSCTAGF.

Let's make t-shirts.

We can put a picture of Naruto and Sasuke making out on them.

Nothing to do with spiders- but it will sure as hell make me feel better about them taking over the earth.