1:15 pm
Sakura was sitting in the office she shared with Naruto. After the dramatics of this morning Sakura was more than happy to quietly read over charity proposals. Many groups sent them pleas for money. She organized them by: ludicrous, out-of-the-question programs, maybe read-them-again-later programs and, finally, good-for-image very beneficial charities like saving baby-orphan dolphins. She would periodically give Sasuke the good proposals and he would say he would read them over. Knowing Sasuke in the one day she worked here, she knew he wouldn't read them.
Sakura was reading some files when a loud, ear-piercing noise echoed through the whole top floor.
"OH FUCK!"
Sakura's head shot up and she looked around. She looked to Naruto who seemed just as confused.
The voice shouted again, "FUCK NO!"
Sakura spoke out to Naruto, "What was that?"
He replied, "Sounded like Sasuke, but…oh no!"
"What?"
The door was thrown open so hard they both thought it would break. Sasuke stormed into the middle of the room, "He's coming!"
Sakura was about to ask what was going on but Naruto beat her to it: "Him?"
"Yes him!"
"When?"
"Right now. Come to my office; both of you."
"Wha—?" Sakura began, but Sasuke stormed off back to his office. Naruto quickly joined him.
Who's coming here? Why is Sasuke so anxious? Why's he need me?
Sakura joined her bosses in the main office. Sasuke was sitting at his desk with Naruto sitting next to him. There was an empty chair on the other side of Sasuke that she assumed was for her. She took a seat. The air was heavy so she didn't feel appropriate asking any questions.
*Ding*
The sound of the elevator reaching the destined floor and then opening was audible from here. Heavy footsteps got closer and the doors burst open. Standing before them was a tall man with dark hair, dark eyes and pale skin. He was wearing what looked like a very expensive suit. He approached them confidently with a sly grin.
"Hello Sasuke," the man greeted.
Sasuke shot back instantly, "You've gained weight."
"Losing it, actually."
Naruto cut in, "You have to gain it to lose it."
Sasuke and Naruto, without even looking at each other, quickly high fived.
"Ok Sasuke, I came here to tell you I'm opening another branch of my company right here in the city."
"No more room in hell?" Sasuke asked.
"Ooh burn!" Naruto backed up.
"And since I'll be living here for a while I was hoping we could reconnect."
Sasuke told him, very very sarcastically, "Yeah! That sounds like a stupendous idea! Wow!"
"Ok Sasuke, there's some bad-blood between us, but I'm the only brother you have."
"We have nothing in common Itachi," Sasuke shot back.
Brother? What the fudge?
"We're both CEOs," Itachi pointed out.
"So you know I'm very busy at one o'clock on a, on a," Sasuke said, then snapped his fingers a couple time, "uh…"
"Tuesday. It's Tuesday little brother."
"Yes! I have work to do on Tuesdays."
"Could we talk later, then?" Itachi asked.
"I'll call you when I'm free," Sasuke flatly told him.
"Great!" Itachi said with a hint of sarcasm, then turned on his heel and walked off.
When he left the office and they felt he was gone long enough for them to talk freely, Naruto broke the silence:
"He…was nicer than I remember."
Sasuke clenched his jaw, "Yeah, maybe he has changed."
"I'm gonna follow him," Naruto sprinted out, leaving Sasuke and Sakura alone.
Sakura gulped and asked, "So that was your brother?"
"Yeah he used to be an asshole."
"Oh…well I should get back—"
"What about you? Any siblings?"
"Nope, only child."
"Well, consider yourself lucky."
"Really? I always thought it'd be fun growing up with someone."
"Yeah it was fun at first. Anyway, tell me more about you. Why'd you become a PR person?" Sasuke asked.
"I don't really know. I guess I like helping people."
"Hn."
"And helping companies."
"You can help my company?" he asked not believing her.
"Well, I'm sure people underestimate you from how, uh, casual you are."
"What do you mean?"
"Well for one, why don't you wear suits?" Sakura answered his question with another question.
"They're uncomfortable."
"But you'll look more professional and people would trust you more. Besides, suits make people look good."
"You don't think I look good?"
"No! You're great looking!" Sakura stammered out, and then blushed.
Wait…am I hitting on him?
Sasuke slowly droned out, "Thanks…"
"I should get back to work because I work here," Sakura quickly spluttered, "Nice to see you your brother— you and your brother! You two ok ok see ya."
4:44 pm
Sakura really meant it: she thought Sasuke looked great no matter what he wore. She got nervous and her word's slurred and she was sure she made herself look the fool. Now she was working alone in the office. She still wasn't sure why she shared space with the vice president; maybe they were too lazy to find her a real cubical. Again, Sakura was content just filling out paperwork in silence, not looking stupid.
Sakura finished filing her last form and decided it was close enough to five o'clock for her to go home. She organized her desk, got up and turned off the light and left the office. She walked down the hall and noticed a lot of other people also went home.
She walked past the secretary's office and saw Temari typing away.
"Good night Temari."
"G'night," Temari lazily replied without taking her eyes off the screen.
Sakura opened the elevator and pushed the button to the first floor. Just as the door was closing a hand got between the closing doors and opened them back up. To Sakura's discomfort, Sasuke joined her in the elevator once again.
"Going home early?" he asked.
"Oh! I'm sorry I just thought that if I started more work—"
"I'm joking," he cut off, "I spent the last 45 minutes taking a nap."
Sakura cracked a smile and suppressed a laugh, "For future reference you shouldn't brag about that, you know, just in case someone else hears that."
"Hn."
"I had a good first day, all things considered. Glad to work here."
"That's good. I'm sure I'll take your advice one day."
The elevator opened they walked out side by side. They walked together out the front door. Just when they were going to go their separate ways, Sasuke spoke up.
"Have any plans tonight?"
She answered, "Uh, I don't know. My friends and I will probably go celebrate the new job."
"Would you wanna go get dinner with me?" he asked casually.
Dinner? Like a date? Like a dinner date?
Sakura was quick to reply, "I would like to, but, I have a boyfriend…."
"Oh… I meant more as a 'co-worker' kind of thing," Sasuke said, rubbing the back of his head uncomfortably.
Fuck me!
"Yeah yeah, well, another time!" she said, trying to escape the awkwardness.
"Hn. See you tomorrow."
"See ya…"
They turned their backs to each other and walked off.
Sasuke didn't mean it as a 'co-worker' thing.
6:13 pm
"Why?!"
"I told you why, pig."
"Why would you lie!?"
"I said already!"
"What phantom controlled you to make terrible decisions, Sa-ku-ra!"
"I didn't want to go on a date with my boss. It'd just make things weird."
"Does he only look good on tv? Is he really boring?" Ino demanded to know.
"No no no, not at all. He's very hot and he's funny sometimes," Sakura informed, "I just think that a date, even a friend date, would make things weird between us."
"But think about it fivehead! If you were dating you could work easier and he wouldn't fire you."
"Well, work is already pretty easy. I felt like I'm useless there."
"All the more reason you made a dumb decision."
"Well what should I do?"
"I thought you'd never ask," Ino said triumphantly, "You should lead him on."
"Come again say what?" Sakura asked in confusion.
"Rich guys like him are used to getting whatever they want. You should drop signals that you're interested in him, but still play hard-to-get. That way you have job security and you can flirt away!"
"I don't know…"
"It couldn't hurt to at least try!"
Okay, I can flirt! Kinda…
Next Time: Sakura gains confidence on her second day of work. Temari gives Sakura a grave warning. Itachi gives Sakura a grave warning. Sasuke gives more details of his past.
Wowzers not in my trousers! This story is picking up and there will be more romance next chapter. Hope you R&R this and Sakura's Amnesia the other, in-universe, story I write at the same time.