Sakura was tapping her pen against her desk in frustration, today was moving so slowly, right now Tsunade was on a lunch break and Sakura had nothing to do. She briefly wondered if she could sneak off quickly to get a coffee but soon dismissed that thought, it would be just her luck that as soon as she did someone would come in for an emergency appointment. She usually loved her job but today for some reason the felt restless and there was very little going on to distract her.
She sighed and started chewing the end of her pen trying to figure out when she would be able to go for her lunch break when a knock at the door made her jump, breaking her out of her daydream. Go away, she thought, resenting whoever had disturbed her peace, if that's Temari with a patient then I'll…
"Sakura, you've got a visitor." Temari said, jerking Sakura out of her violent thoughts.
"Naruto." she said with surprise when Temari stepped aside to let him in, he was the last person she'd expected to walk into her office and at least he was a welcome distraction. He looked uncharacteristically nervous, biting his bottom lip slightly.
"I hope this is alright, I asked the person on the desk and she said you didn't have any appointments." He said hesitantly and Sakura gave him a warm smile.
"It's fine Naruto." Sakura assured him, "I was just a little surprised." Naruto visibly looked less worried and Sakura gave him a slight smile. "How was the ride home with Hinata?" She asked.
"Good," He said quietly, colouring slightly. Sakura's smile widened and she made a note to get the whole story from Hinata later if anything it sounded like it went very well for the both of them.
"Sakura," Naruto said uncertainly, "I want to talk to you about Sasuke." Sakura looked up at him, he was uncharacteristically serious and she was naturally curious, so she gestured to him to sit down and he rested on the edge of the seat looking worried.
"Sasuke?" She repeated the name, frowning slightly, "What about him?" Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his blond hair tugging at the tangles the wind had made in it on his walk over.
"I want you to know what's made him the person he is today." Naruto started, Sakura frowned he was hesitating again; she had a feeling that this conversation wasn't just going to be an ordinary discussion about his friend.
"Go on," Sakura prompted as she couldn't quite understand the meaning behind his words, whatever was plaguing Naruto's mind was obviously important but she had no idea what he had to say that had made Sasuke the quiet, introverted person he was today. Naruto looked down at his feet as he took a moment to collect his thoughts.
"I first met Sasuke years ago, I was trying to get away from a group of kids and ran into the back garden of his a house." Naruto gave a slight smile. "When I realised where I was I thought I'd be in even more trouble, especially when I ran into Sasuke's brother, I was lucky really. Sasuke came and insisted that he knew me, which in hindsight was probably just his way of looking out for me as he said I looked rather pathetic that day, but since then we've pretty much stuck together anyway." Naruto grinned, and Sakura sat there stunned.
"That's an interesting way of meeting someone." She managed wondering where exactly this conversation was going.
"Anyway its mainly because of what happened then that his brother seems to dislike me. As I think he thought I'd be caught for trespassing I wouldn't be surprised if he had tried to drag me off to the police of something, but Sasuke and Itachi have always seemed to have a rocky relationship it wasn't so obvious at first and I think Itachi has cared for Sasuke in his own may, maybe he blames me for driving a wedge between them that day I don't know." Naruto frowned again and Sakura looked on with some concern at his troubled expression.
"I want you to know that I only know this as I've known Sasuke for years and most of it I found out myself. Sasuke never tells anyone his problems and tries to do everything himself." Sakura nodded, a slight frown gracing her features. "From what I understand Sasuke and Itachi, his brother, grew up rather competitively, and even that's kind of an understatement. Sasuke has always been over shadowed by Itachi and never got any recognition for what he did from his father. Quite a few times their relationship has gotten quite violent." This time it was Sakura's turn to frown.
"Violent?" She asked and Naruto nodded grimly.
"If you look he's got a scar on the top of his left arm near the shoulder, I remember that happening, at school Sasuke insisted that it was just an accident but-" Naruto shrugged "It turns out that he had had a fight with his brother." Naruto looked at Sakura's horrified expression.
"Its gotten better now, now they seem to maintain a sort of cold war towards each other, but as they have to work together things can get a bit…" Naruto paused as he searched for the right word "tense, I guess."
"Why do they work together, why doesn't Sasuke just leave, I got the impression that he hated his job anyway." Sakura asked trying to understand what had made Sasuke work with someone he obviously disliked Naruto scratched the back of his head.
"I think it's mainly due to Itachi that he hates working there, and it's quite complicated really, it's his families company isn't it." He said and Sakura looked at Naruto strangely.
"I don't know." Sakura said "He never talks to me about work much or his family." A guilty look crossed Naruto's face.
"Ah," He said finally after a long and awkward pause, "So he hasn't told you, I thought he would have for some reason."
"Told me what?" Sakura asked.
"He's an Uchiha." Naruto said Sakura stared at him; she opened her mouth to speak but soon shut it again "Uchiha is his family name." Naruto continued as if he thought Sakura couldn't quite get to grip with the concept. And he was right, although the repetition didn't exactly make it any easier.
"An Uchiha?" She managed and noticed that Naruto seemed to be watching her with some amusement as her brain tried to process this information.
Of course she had heard that name before, practically everyone had, they were one of the largest companies around with branches everywhere selling practically every product, their largest competitor was the company Hinata and Neji's own family ran although some smaller, localised companies were attempting to rival them in certain areas.
Sakura could understand why Sasuke would want to keep this information secret she had seen what had happened to Hinata before when she had been recognised as the owner of the Hyuuga Company's daughter, it wasn't very pretty and she had laughed with Ino and Tenten about the impossible situations Neji had gotten into because of his surname especially when trying to book something.
"That explains how he knows Neji," Sakura muttered sitting back in her chair. Naruto gave her a quick smile.
"I don't this Sasuke would really want you to know all this but because of his childhood he has a habit of shutting people out and to be honest I thought it was quite..." Naruto searched for the right words "Out of character, when he sought your friendship. I don't mean to offend you by saying that." He said and looked at Sakura's stony expression
"Not that it's a bad thing, you two obviously get along well and I'm glad for him," he added hastily. "I just want you to be careful, well." Sakura could see that Naruto was starting to have trouble expressing himself again, he bowed his head. "Just because Itachi and Sasuke are cold towards each other doesn't mean Itachi can't hurt him any more whether its intentional or not I don't know but their father seems to always turn a blind eye to things when it's about Itachi as the 'preferred child'. And I'm worried you might get caught in the crossfire or used in some way." Sakura frowned.
"You think he might use me to get to Sasuke," She said slowly and Naruto nodded.
"The fact that he's spent so much time with you must mean he likes your company and Itachi might use this as a way to hurt him."
Sakura frowned slightly, she cast her mind back to one of her outings with Sasuke where they had sat and talked over a sandwich, they had sat in contented silence for a while and she had looked down at his arm, She noticed for the first time that he had a dark purplish bruise on his arm, it stood out against his pale skin. Without even thinking Sakura had reached out and ran her fingers gently over the mark, Sasuke had jerked back as if her touch had burned him, pulling his arm away.
She had lowered her hand to rest it on the table and softly apologised, but she wasn't sure what for.
"It's nothing." He had said, looking away from her at the other customers in the shop and covered the bruise with his other hand.
Sakura gave Naruto a considering look.
"Thank you for telling me." She said softly. She paused. "He won't be physically in danger because of me will he?" Naruto shook his head.
"I think it's moved beyond that and besides-"
"There are other ways to hurt people." Sakura finished for him and Naruto nodded, he offered her a slight smile.
"I haven't scared you off have I?" Sakura laughed slightly.
"No don't worry about it, I like having Sasuke's company nothing will change that." She declared. Naruto's smile widened and for the first time since he had stepped into her office he looked reassured.
"I have to go now, my lunch breaks nearly over," He beamed at her. "Thanks for listening to me."
"Bye Naruto." Sakura said walking with him to the door of her office.
She sat back down on her chair and spun it round slowly while thinking about the information Naruto had given her, she was surprised that Sasuke's parents hadn't noticed the strain between their two sons but, she thought, maybe they were too busy to notice or didn't care.
Hinata's parents were always really busy and hardly had any time for their children, something that Sakura knew Hinata's mother regretted. However Hinata had Neji, who despite his stern exterior really cared about his cousin. And then there was Hanabi, Hinata's sister, who was always showing Hinata up as she seemed to have more of a head for business than her sister but she couldn't imagine there being any bitterness between them. And Hinata could depend upon Ino, Tenten and Sakura herself.
It was hard to imagine what it would be like for Sasuke growing up alone, with only Naruto who stuck by him. A small smile appeared on Sakura's face, they must have made an interesting pair at school, Naruto being ever cheerful and Sasuke silent and withdrawn, she would have liked to see them together when they were younger, just the two of them at first fighting each other's battles. She thought about what Sasuke said about Naruto being bullied and wondered if they managed to stick together for so long by being a pair of misfits and she hoped that they at least had a happier future to look forward too. Sakura sighed she wished that sometime Sasuke would be able to open up to her and tell her himself what Naruto had told her about his past.
But, she reflected, it might be too much to ask for.