Chapter 6

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As Sasuke stepped into the awaiting limo, looking very much like the owner of a multi-billion dollar corporation. His dark navy suit was elegantly expensive, set off by beautiful silver cuffs and a crisp, silk dress shirt. His face was calm and controlled, his hair- as always- perfect and smooth. Once inside the limo, however, his body relaxed with slightly unprofessional relief and let out a low sigh.

"Rough night?" A playful voice murmured. Sasuke glanced over at Kakashi, darkly.

"I spent all night going over today's material. I discovered someone had made an error on the hiring rate of the resources department four years ago. I spent half the night trying to solve the problem." Kakashi just smirked. What Sasuke really meant was that he'd spent half the night trying to figure out who he could firefor causing the problem.

"And here I thought you might have actually gotten some action." The silver-grey haired man commented. Sasuke gave him a nasty glare.

"I don't have time for that." Kakashi shrugged his shoulder.

"You know, you could try living a more exciting life, you know. You're making being your bodyguard unbelievably dull." Sasuke scowled.

"I'm so sorry for your suffering." He snapped. The taller man only grinned.

"Yeesh, it almost makes me want to switch places with Iruka. At least Naruto keeps things exciting." Sasuke rolled his eyes and stared out the window. Usually, he preferred to drive himself, but with the Kishimoto gang in town, he wanted to keep up appearances.

"That dobe. He nearly ruined everything yesterday. He made us look like fools in front of the head of Kishimoto." Kakashi shrugged.

"It couldn't be that bad, if they ate dinner together." Sasuke's head shot up and he stared at Kakashi.

"What?" The older man tried not to look smug. The look on Sasuke's face was new. This could be fun.

"Yeah, Iruka called me last night. He said that Gaara-san showed up at Ichiraku's last night." Sasuke felt his jaw clench, and his eyes flashed dangerously.

"Did he? Did…anything happen?" Kakashi shrugged.

"Dunno. Iruka got…distracted in the middle of telling me." Sasuke scowled. Distracted- yeah, Kakashi sure as hell knew how to distract Iruka. "You'll have to ask Naruto." Sasuke turned back toward the window, dark eyes blazing furiously.

"Indeed I will." He growled.

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Naruto beamed around the room. It was empty, so anyone who didn't know Naruto would wonder what in the Hell he was smiling at.

"ALRIGHT! I GOT HERE FIRST!" It had taken three alarm clocks, but Naruto was up, dressed, and on time. No, not on time- EARLY! He was early! "Sasuke-teme's not even here yet!" He chirped happily, and tossed himself into one of the boardroom chairs, leaning backwards.

"Think again, dobe." Naruto swung around, and spotted Sasuke in the doorway.

"Sasuke!" Naruto said cheerily. "…Good morning?" He added, suddenly noticing the dark look in Sasuke's eyes. What was his problem? Naruto was on time.

"Yes. Morning." Sasuke replied coldly, approaching Naruto's chair until he was hovering over the blond. Naruto was distinctly reminded of the way Gaara had done that very same thing the night before.

"Is something…wrong?" Naruto asked slowly, trying to decide what his best mode of action was. The dangerous gleam in Sasuke's eyes was making Naruto seriously consider running. It was also making him consider cussing the Uchiha out.

Both were equally fruitless, since if he ran, Sasuke would easily catch him at this angle, and if he cussed him out…

Well, it was better not to consider what would happen if he cussed him out.

"That depends, Naruto. Is there anything you want to tell me about?" Naruto stared at him. Now he was really confused. Tell him? Did he have anything to tell him?
"Uh…Sakura-chan's the one who killed the hall plants?" Naruto offered shyly. Sasuke's eyes flashed. Oh, shit. Sasuke must be really, REALLY pissed if his eyes were glowing like that.

"Don't play dumb, Naruto. What the hell is going on with you and Gaara?" Naruto gaped up at him. Gaara? This was about Gaara?
"Uh…Nothing?" Naruto offered, looking rather confused. Suddenly, Sasuke's hands shot out, and he pulled Naruto out of his chair by his collar until their faces were almost touching.

"You ate dinner with him." Sasuke hissed, his eyes turning into angry slits of cold black. Naruto shivered. When Sasuke spoke, his breath brushed across Naruto's lips.

"Oh…OH! Well, it wasn't dinner really. I mean, he only had tea, and only like, one sip…" Sasuke glared at him, and shoved him back into his chair roughly. Naruto let out a startled yelp, and threw him a furious gaze.

"What the HELL Sasuke!" The Uchiha crossed his arms over his chest and bore down on Naruto with his eyes.

"You ate dinner with our rival." Sasuke growled. Naruto just gaped at him.

"Rival? He's not our rival, he's our partner!" Sasuke's snarl grew. "And it's not like I asked him out or something! He just showed up!" For a moment, Sasuke felt only pure annoyance and rage. Then, a realization flowed through his body, and he forced his anger back.

"…He just showed up? At Ichiraku's?" He asked, his voice a degree calmer.

"Yes. He showed up. Had tea. I made an ass of myself. He left. End of story." Sasuke stared at Naruto. "Jeez, what's the big deal?" Sasuke scowled.

"The big deal? The BIG DEAL is that we're in the middle of negotiations that could push us into the international league, trying to use this man's company to OUR advantage, and YOU GO ON A DATE WITH HIM!" Naruto got to his feet, glaring furiously into the slightly taller boys eyes.

"It wasn't a date, okay! I didn't even know he would be there! Do you think I'd go behind your back like that?" Naruto snapped back angrily.

"Why the hell not! It's not your name riding on this!" Sasuke responded quickly- too quickly. He hadn't had time to consider what he was saying first. This was bad. Naruto's face went from angry to crushed in seconds.

"You jackass. This will always be your company, won't it? It doesn't matter what title you let me flaunt around. It's still all yours." Naruto murmured, looking away. Sasuke's felt a strange desperation catch him, and he grabbed Naruto's shoulders turning him around roughly.

"You dobe! Don't you take that tone with me! You know how much I…" The sound of the door flying open cut Sasuke off as he ripped his arms away from the blond and swung around. A secretary stood in the doorway, arms full of paperwork.

"I…I'm sorry if I interrupted, sir, but Ms. Wakamiya asked me to drop off the time files for last September." She murmured, eyes flickering between the two. Sasuke glanced back at Naruto, whose face was turned from him. His fists clenched, and he turned away, walking over to the frazzled young woman.

"These are completely out of order." He snapped, snatching one from her bundle.

"Well, you see sir, the copy machine is jammed, and Ms.Wakamiya was trying to fix it, so she just…." Sasuke shot her a cold glare and her voice stumbled to a halt. She was visibly trembling.

"I…I'm sorry, sir, I…"
"Shut up. I expect you to take your job seriously, not give me meaningless excuses." Sasuke growled. A snicker behind him caught his attention, and he turned. Naruto was glaring at him. Sasuke's mouth opened to comment, but Naruto rolled his eyes and roughly pushed past the Uchiha. Pausing briefly at the doorway, he grabbed the papers from the miserable young woman and shoved them into Sasuke's grip.

"You're here early, you organize them." He snapped, grabbing the secretary's arm. "You'd like it better if you did it anyway." And he left, pulling a horror-struck looking woman behind him.

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Sasuke sat down hard and threw the pile of paperwork onto the desk in a sloppy mess. Damn it! He hadn't even gotten the chance to ask Naruto what had actually happened with Gaara. Sasuke bared his teeth in an irritated snarl. Gaara. What the hell was that man up to? Wandering around the halls, showing up at Ichiraku's- something was going on, and Sasuke didn't like it. Picking up his private phone, he dialed slowly, resisting the urge to slam the buttons down out of pure irritation. Drumming his finger impatiently as the phone rang, Sasuke tried to get his voice under control before the person on the other end answered.

"Sasuke." The voice was a low, cold purr, and the hairs at the back of Sasuke's neck stood up. He scowled.

"Itachi." He grumbled. There was an unsuccessfully repressed note of anger in his voice, and he suddenly wished he could glare at himself. Cold laughter responded.

"Now there's no need to be angry with me. You called me remember?" Came a mocking, rather frustrating voice on the other end, Sasuke rubbed his temple with his free hand.

"Out of necessity, not desire, I assure you." He growled back.

"I didn't dare think otherwise." Still mocking. Mocking was Itachi inborn undertone.

"I'm having a problem."

"Mmm. So I've heard. The Kishimoto merger. Nice piece of work you've got there, little brother. Your soul will be worth twice as much when you die, now."

"Huh. Wish I could say the same for you." Sasuke hissed back, gripping the phone out of rage. Laughter was all that came back. "Are you going to help me or not?"

"What exactly did you have in mind?"

"He's got an in. I want to know who it is."

"Did you try the little blond? From what I here, they're awfully cozy." Sasuke gripped the edge of his desk, and he could swear he could hear wood cracking.

"You've been talking to Kakashi." Sasuke ground out. He could practically feel Itachi smirking.

"A few glasses of sake, and that man would tell me your account balance, Sasuke-kun." The younger Uchiha sank into his chair, trying not to swear violently. Sure, Kakashi would take a bullet for him, but did the man ever shut the hell up!

"Well? Why not ask Naru-chan?" Itachi pressed, his voice taking on an almost playful edge that Sasuke couldn't stand.

"Naruto has NOTHING to do with that freak. It's just business. Naruto knows that." Itachi was laughing wickedly on the other end of the phone.

"If you say so, little brother. But if I were you, I'd watch him- not everyone is as determined to die alone and bitter as you are." Sasuke let out a breath of frustration.

"Itachi." More laughter. If Sasuke hadn't known better, he would have thought Itachi actually enjoyed these little chats.

"You'll hear from me soon, little brother, and I'll have all the information you need."

Dial tone.

Sasuke slammed down the phone.

I hear they're awfully cozy

Sasuke buried his face in his hands. This wasn't how things were supposed to be going at all.

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"Jackass." Naruto growled as he barreled down the hall. The employees were beginning to think they'd never be safe in the hallways again. "I can't believe him! Everything has just got to be his way! Prissy ass! Princess Sasuke, everything has to be…."

"Uh…sir…"

"Him and his name. What the hell is so good about being an Uchiha, anyway?" He ranted angrily, flying down the stairs until he reached the ground floor. "I mean, they're all a bunch of tight, repressed, stiffs. I mean, have you met Itachi? One look from him could skin chicken..."

"Yes, well, sir…"

"What's his problem, huh? I've been working for this company practically since he inherited it! If I'm such a hassle, why did he take me on as partner?" The blond seethed as he threw open the glass doors of the building and emerged on the street, aggressively forcing his way into the crowd.

"I…I don't know, but I…"

"I mean, I'm not a total screw up! I mean, maybe I'm not always on time, and yeah, okay, I don't always get my work done right…or on time…"

"Sir my fingers have gone numb!" The desperate cry caused Naruto to jump, and he glanced behind him. The secretary he had dragged out of Sasuke's office was right behind him, looking like she'd just run a marathon. Naruto stared at her.

"What are you still doing here?" He asked dumbly. The woman responded by gaping at him. That was when Naruto noticed his rather tight grip on the young woman's hands.

"Oh…..OH! Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I Didn't realize! Are you okay?" He asked frantically, releasing the woman's rather abused hand. She rubbed it tenderly, staring at Naruto with nervous discomfort.

"It's….It's fine. But…" She turned to look over her shoulder. "Do you always take the stairs from the thirty-fifth floor?" She asked meekly, her legs trembling with the effort it had taken to follow the young blond. He stared at her. Then, with such sudden release that it nearly scared the already frazzled young woman out of her wits, Naruto began to laugh hysterically.

"I…I'm so-sorry…It's just…you…I…." The young man leaned against the nearest building, his face flushing as he tried to gasp for breath between desperate coughs of laughter. The woman looked as if she might flee.

"Oh, God. I dragged you halfway across town! I can't believe it!" His laughter was slowly easing away, but his smile was irrepressible. Slowly, the young secretary responded with a hesitant smile of her own.

"You…You were on quite a roll, sir." Naruto wrinkled his nose up at her.

"Sir? What am I, a sixty-year old walking heart attack? Call me Naruto." The woman looked doubtful again.

"..Naruto-san." She murmured. "We should be getting back…Uchiha-sama was in an awfully bad mood…" Naruto's eyes flashed with dark irritation again.

"Yeah, well he can just shove it up his ass. I'm going out to lunch." The woman looked at her watch.

"Um…It's only nine a.m., sir….Naruto-san." She responded shyly. The blond just grinned.

"Brunch, then. Come on, my treat. I owe you, after dragging you all over Japan." The woman bit her lip.

"I…I should get back…" Naruto smiled cutely up at her.

"Aw, come on! If you come, I can write it off as a business lunch!" She gaped at him, and then began to laugh in spite of herself.

"See! You know you want to! Let's go- It'll be fun!" The woman smiled warmly.

"I guess it can't hurt…" She murmured thoughtfully. Naruto cheered.

"Alright! Ramen!"

"Ramen?" The young woman said questioningly. Naruto grinned.

"I know the best place! I'll get us a cab! Come on…." Naruto suddenly did a back track. "Oh! I never even got your name!" The secretary just shook her head.

"Temari- Temari Mizuki." She answered warmly, a calm smile growing across her face.

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Authors notes

(Yeah, it's me again. I just don't shut up.)

I love Naruto. I'm going to found a religion off of him. The members will worship ramen stands and foxes will be considered holy. Everyone will be required to wear orange jumpsuits and have scars on their faces…Hmm…This is beginning to sound like prision…

That's all I really have to say….

In that case, why am I writing at all?

So far everyone's asking really good questions- but I can't answer them, or I'll ruin parts of the plot…pouts

I really want to answer them!

Oh…right…because I don't shut up.

Whoever thinks Itachi's the hottest psychopath you've ever seen, raise your hand!

Sincerely,

Guinness-world-record-holder-for-most-what-the-hell-is-she-thinking-moments

Also, if I'm taking to long to write chapters, I suggest you write threatening E-mails to my BIS 104 partners who aren't doing their fair share of the group project. Bastards.

Grumbles angrily well stomping on voodoo dolls