Upside-Down

TK Grimm

Chapter Three:

Dinner for Two

"Sakura," Sasori said, standing up. He looked at her with what appeared to be an – dare she raise her hopes – amused smile.

"Please don't fire me!" she panicked, face red with embarrassment. "I love my job!"

For the first time in a long time, she saw Sasori laugh. He covered his mouth with the back of his hand, but he was chuckling nonetheless. "I'm not going to fire you," he said. "You've got a perfect record. Just be careful next time."

"I will!" Sakura promised, nearly tripping over one of the legs of the coat rack. That only served to knock it down. It hit the floor with a clang making Sakura's eyes widen in horror. "I'm – so – sorry!" she squeaked, kneeling down and standing the coat rack back up.

That was when she noticed that Deidara was holding his sides in laughter. Sakura felt her face grow hot, sure it was at least fifty shades of red. "I guess some things never change, yeah," Deidara managed to smirk.

Sasori elbowed him, giving him a warning look, before sending Sakura an encouraging smile. "Sakura, there are a few file folders on the desk, think you could take care of those for me?"

"S-sure thing," Sakura replied softly, her eyes glued to the floor. She was quite positive that at this point, the day couldn't get any worse. Not wanting to look at either one of them, she sat down at the desk and opened the first file folder, searching for something to distract her.

"Sakura," Sasori said again, making her look up at him. The corners of his mouth tugged upwards slightly, and she absolutely refused to see Deidara's expression. It was high school all over again.

Sakura looked where Sasori had pointed and nearly fell out of her chair. When the coat rack had fallen, she dropped her purse in the panic. And naturally, everything fell out. She really needed a new one; that zipper was no good. She stood up and walked over to it, kneeling down again and putting everything back in the purse. Don't look up. Whatever you do… don't look up. Don't look at them or it'll be the end and you'll die of embarrassment. Not like she hadn't already.

The room was too quiet. Sakura was sure that Deidara and Sasori had been talking about something before she barged in being late. But now it was silent, and she knew full well they were watching her, waiting to see what amusing stunt she'd pull next. When she had collected all of the items, she zipped up her purse and stood up, examining it to make sure it wouldn't unzip itself again.

Sakura sat down at the desk again and finally found the courage to look at her boss. "Um…if you want me to leave you two alone-" she saw the expression on his face and quickly recovered, "er, I mean, to talk! I think I interrupted something…"

"No, I was just leaving, yeah," Deidara said. He slid off the desk and walked towards the door, glancing back at her with a smirk before heading out.

"So…" Sakura said, trying to start a conversation. "Did you two make up?" Her eyes widened and she clamped her hand over her mouth. "I-I mean! A-a-are you friends again?" Oh my God I can't believe I just insinuated they were gay… twice now!

As if he could sense her thoughts, Sasori didn't mention her 'slip-up.' "Not really," he said, resting his head on his hand with his elbow on the desk as usual. He looked at her with his amber eyes still gleaming with amusement. "He actually came here to yell at me for insulting him with that blank check."

Sakura cringed, "I… I see…"

Sasori looked at her for a moment; he appeared to be contemplating something. Finally speaking, he asked, "You talked to him when you stopped by his apartment yesterday, right?"

"Yeah, we caught up a little," Sakura replied, looking at him with a slightly confused expression.

"Good. We'll give him the weekend to cool off, and you can talk to him Monday," Sasori decided as he stood up straight and headed towards the stairs.

"Wait, what?" Sakura asked, completely lost.

He tilted his head to the side to look at her, "You're good with words; convince him to stop being such a brat and get over the fight we had a year ago." He paused before adding, "Don't worry. You can take care of it after work; I'll add it as overtime."

Not wanting to piss him off, especially since he didn't fire her for being late and was offering her precious overtime cash, Sakura was quite hesitant to ask, "But… uh, sir… if he's your friend… shouldn't you be the one to talk to him…?" Sasori gave her a knowing smile before heading upstairs to his private studio to work on the current art piece, whatever it was. Sakura never went up there because she didn't want to disturb him.

What was she supposed to say to Deidara? It was like in school, where one friend tells you to tell another friend that you're not speaking to them and so on. They're both acting like children if you ask me, Sakura huffed. With this settled, she opened the folder again and got to work. She didn't have time to rehearse methods of getting Deidara and Sasori to be friends again. It was Saturday. She had a date with Sasuke today. That was far more important. Satisfied with this way of thinking, Sakura went back to her work, hoping that by keeping her mind busy, the time would go by all the faster.

By 3:50, she was on the edge of her seat. Sakura stared at the clock, trying to glare it into submission. It was as if she could telekinetically move the minute sign to the 12 on the clock to magically make it 4:00 so she could leave. She loved her job, but it was Saturday for crying out loud! Party day! Sasuke day!

There was a soft ding heard from the computer, causing Sakura to turn her head in confusion. She tilted her head to the side, surprised. An e-mail? she thought. Clicking on the icon that appeared in the corner of her screen, Sakura opened it. It was ten minutes until her shift was over, so she didn't feel too guilty about checking her mail before she left.

To: GreenSea13 (a) hotmail . com
From: SmexayBlonde (a) hotmail . com
Date: March 1
Subject: birthday bish!

hey forehead! hinata and i are going to temari's club tomorrow to help with stuff, youre coming right? oh and naruto was complaining about you not calling him back. call him so he stops bitching at me! anyways still working on your birthday plans. i got a few people on board already, i think youre really gonna love it!

much love!

xxxInoxxx

Sakura rolled her eyes in amusement. It was rather typical of Ino to send her an e-mail about absolutely nothing. And, naturally, her grammar was completely off. The front door opened, forcing her attention in that direction. Sakura felt her heart leap when she saw that it was Sasuke. He was still in his business suit and appeared to be arguing with someone on his cell phone, but he did show up nonetheless. He didn't miss their date, and she never doubted him.

Sakura winked at him, giving him the one-minute sign by holding up her index finger and walked to the bottom of the staircase. "Sasori, I'm heading out for the day. I'll see you Monday. Take it easy; don't work too hard, okay?" Hearing his usual 'yeah okay' reply, Sakura smiled and started gathering her stuff. "All set!" she exclaimed, but quickly grew quiet when she remembered Sasuke was on the phone. He merely nodded in her direction and walked back outside the studio.

She got in her car and waited for Sasuke to pull out of the parking lot first. Seeing his Lamborghini Mercielago drive out, Sakura followed him. Whenever he met her after work, he was usually on his phone, but that was only because he just got off work. Sasuke was practically the glue holding Uchiha Corporations together, after all. Basically everyone depended on him. Certain that she was glad she was in her own car and not the same with him (he was always in a foul mood just after work), she continued following him as he drove to whatever restaurant they were going to that day.

By the time they arrived at the restaurant, Sasuke was finally off the phone. He appeared to be in a much better mood now that he was off work and could finally enjoy himself. They entered through the front door and approached the man at the counter. "We have a reservation under Uchiha," Sasuke said. Sakura blushed slightly, smiling proudly that Sasuke had reserved them a place ahead of time.

"Right this way, sir," the man replied, taking two menus off the stand to his right and leading them to their table. "Do you need to see a wine list, sir?"

Sasuke paused for a moment, making the decision in his head. "Bring a bottle of Chateau Lafaurie-Peyraguey." The waiter nodded and walked away.

Sakura raised an eyebrow, speaking in a suggestive tone, "Someone's feeling expensive tonight."

"Only the best," Sasuke replied. Sakura blushed slightly and looked away, smiling. She wasn't really shy, but she knew Sasuke was a sucker for that look. Not to mention, she was rather pleased with him that evening. He met her right on time, he reserved a nice restaurant, got an expensive bottle of wine (it amused her to no end that no one bothered to ask if he was twenty-one), and even came up with the charming lines to top it all off.

Sasuke had already turned twenty, but that meant he had a year to go before he turned twenty-one. Of course, being one of the heirs to one of the most industrious and money-making companies in the world, Sakura couldn't think of anyone who had ever refused him. Either the waiter was afraid Sasuke would find an excuse to sue him or he was expecting a generous tip. Whenever Sakura was around, Sasuke did indeed tip generously, but only because it made her smile.

"Temari is reopening that old club down on Fifth Street," Sakura brought up, starting conversation.

"The Elixur?" Sasuke asked, curiosity evident.

"That's right," Sakura nodded. "Ino, Hinata and I are volunteering tomorrow to help her out. We all have the day off, and she's a good friend, so we thought it would be nice. Plus, it'll be good bonding time for us girls."

"When is she opening it?"

Sakura paused, trying to remember. "Not sure yet, actually. I think it depends on when all the renovations, hiring, and decorating is done. There's a lot to consider before you can announce opening day."

"True," Sasuke agreed.

"So how was your day?" It was usually Sakura who started their conversations, but she didn't seem to mind. She usually had a lot to talk about anyway.

The waiter returned and casually set two glasses in front them, pouring the golden wine into each one. Sasuke shrugged, "Mostly full of data calculations. It figures that right at the end of the day everyone in the building needs my help on all floors." He nodded to the waiter, who left the bottle and took his leave, signaling for a waitress to pick up where he left off.

"Sounds like a pain," Sakura said sympathetically. Sasuke's job was a lot more stressful than hers was. She was lucky to have Sasori as a boss – he never had too much work for her to do, and what she did was fairly simple. Since Sasuke was the heir to the corporation, aside from his older brother, Itachi, he had a lot of responsibilities and jobs that Sakura didn't have to worry about. Sure, she had her medical classes at the university on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays to add to work, but she still managed to get everything done and keep her stress on balanced levels.

Staring a new conversation, Sakura mentioned, "Ino's planning something for my birthday this year." She noticed Sasuke visibly tense but said nothing of it. "I can't help but wonder what she'll cook up."

"Yeah…" Sasuke replied, his tone revealing that his mind was elsewhere. Sakura furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, but decided not to press the issue. Perhaps Sasuke just forgot about her birthday while caught up in work.

"Don't worry, Sasuke," Sakura assured. "My birthday really isn't a big deal. It's not as important as it is when you're a kid."

He looked at her for a moment, but all he said was, "No… it's important." Perhaps he's planning something after all, Sakura wondered. Putting these thoughts to the back of her mind, she smiled at the waitress who appeared to take their orders. As soon as she left to deliver the information to the cooks, Sasuke asked, "What time do you get off Monday?"

"I get off at four, as usual, but I'm taking some overtime Monday afternoon," Sakura said. Sasuke was a rather jealous boyfriend, so she decided it was best to be vague with what she was doing during that overtime.

"Overtime? That's unusual for you." So damn perceptive.

Sakura nodded, brushing it off as if it were nothing. "Yeah, Sasori wants me to talk to one of his old colleagues and see if he'll come back to the studio."

"Oh? What's his name?" Sasuke asked with genuine curiosity. "I might know him; I can put in a good word for you." At least he had good intentions.

"Thanks, Sasuke, but I don't think he's one of your friends," Sakura said politely. "Do you remember Deidara, from high school? He used to hang out with your brother and their friends." She couldn't help but notice the flash of anger that passed through his eyes at the mention of the word 'brother' and immediately regretted mentioning that last part.

"Yeah, I remember," Sasuke said, pushing the thoughts of his brother to the back of his head. Itachi was the last thing he wanted to think about at that time, or ever for that matter. "So Sasori wants him to work in the studio? Why doesn't he just go get him himself?"

Great, he's already grumpy, Sakura inwardly sighed. "He's busy, that's all. Plus, I don't mind. It's not a big deal, and the overtime will be nice. I get a nice bonus for overtime hours." Sasuke was clearly considering this in his mind before he finally nodded, giving in. Sakura mentally patted herself on the back; she had made a very valid point. Perhaps Sasori was right. Maybe she did have a way with words.

All righty, Deidara; I think I'll put this theory to the test.