Hey you! Guess what? Every decision you've ever made has led you to read this.
—
The two of them sped down the empty streets. Winter was coming so it was already pitch black out despite it not being that late.
Sakura wasn't sure why she insisted on coming with Sasuke; maybe it was as simple as not wanting him to see her crappy apartment, or she didn't want to be kept in the dark about the company. All she knew was that she liked spending time with Sasuke.
"Thanks for letting me come along," Sakura said.
"Hn," he grunted out. He was obviously deep in thought about his business falling apart. It was hard to blame him.
"Wanna talk about something? As a distraction?"
"About what?"
"Anything…what's your favorite color?"
"Uh,…the rainbow."
She smirked, "C'mon, you need a distraction. It's just small talk."
"I don't know."
"Do you prefer big talk?"
"What? Naruto was just joking the other day!" he snapped.
"What?"
"Oh, I thought you said 'big c—', well, never mind. I'm concentrating."
"Sorry."
"Don't be; it's not your fault."
They pulled into Sasuke's reserved parking spot in the front of the building. He shut off the engine and they got out. Sasuke jogged ahead and opened the door for Sakura. She smiled appreciatively and went inside. Silently, they made their way into the elevator.
Sakura asked, "Are you nervous?"
"No," he answered quickly. Too quickly.
"It'll be okay," she assured.
"You don't know that."
"No, no I'm not a business person, but I think you and your team are smart enough to get through this."
"Of course we will, but," he began explaining.
"But what?"
"It's nothing."
"You can tell me, we're friends…?"
"Yeah, we are."
"So what's wrong?"
"I'm going to have to lay off some people, friends or not."
Sakura opened her mouth to say something, but the elevator opened and she was overcome by a flood of shouting, bright lights and pitter patter of footsteps. Immediately, Naruto and other executives practically dragged Sasuke to his office.
Sakura gulped.
—
She didn't see much of Sasuke over the next few hours. He was too busy working in his office and nobody would tell her what was happening. She hid away in Naruto's office and wrote a press release which should try to explain to people that they have nothing to worry about. That may not be true, but nobody would tell her anything. She also wrote answers to questions that were likely to be asked. Those could be true.
After some time, Sakura noticed the voices in the room over died down. She looked at her watch and realized it was a bit past midnight. She stood up and stretched, then walked to Sasuke's office. She opened the door and saw him slumped over his desk reading a stack of paper. It was weird seeing him actually working.
"Hey," she called out.
He looked up to her and she could almost see him lighten up. "Hey, I didn't know you were still here."
"I still have a lot of work to do here."
"Hn, me too."
Sakura yawned and said, "I think I'm going to take a break…"
"Need a ride home?"
"No I need to s-stay here."
"All right, there's a couch in Naruto's office if you want to lie down."
"Thanks, I think I will. How are you?"
"Fine."
"Mhm," Sakura acknowledged, she didn't believe him but she was too tired to argue, "What's happening to the company?"
"Somebody sent messages to all of our shareholders saying we were moving to China and they're trying to sell out."
"Is that true?"
"No I hate orange chicken."
She grinned and said, "I'm going to take a nap…"
"Hn."
Sakura went back to the other office and fell onto the couch exhaustedly. She closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep with only Sasuke on her mind.
—
Her eyes shot open. Instantly she knew she had taken more than a nap. Sunlight poured into the room. Her watch said it was almost 7:00 am. She bolted up in her wrinkled clothes and messy hair clouded her vision.
Oh fudge
Sakura went back to Sasuke's office, and to her surprise, Sasuke was still at his desk as if he hadn't moved this whole time.
"Sasuke?"
He looked up at her, bags under his eyes: "Morning."
"Yeah I uh d-didn't…I'm just gonna go home."
"Me too," he lazily grumbled.
They walked to the elevator; neither rested enough to make conversation.
Inside she asked, "Did you sleep last night?"
"On and off…"
When they got to the ground floor Sakura said, "I'll get a taxi *yawn*, you'll probably want to get home soon."
"Hn, feel free to take the day off. I'll be back tonight."
When they were outside Sakura grabbed her phone to call a cab, "See you later Sasuke."
"Yeah, thanks for being here."
Before she could respond he walked away.
—
Sakura was waiting for her ride to show up, but it was going to be a few more minutes at least. She had to use the bathroom so she looked around the lobby. There was nobody else here, but there were a handful of unmarked doors.
She approached one and tried opening it but it was locked. Sakura was going to leave but she heard a muffled voice coming from the other side. She leaned in and heard:
"It's for the best!"
"But a lot of people could lose their jobs."
"It's too late to stop now; besides, there's only one person who needs to lose his job."
"And you promise I'll be CEO at the end of this?"
"Promises don't mean anything here, but yes, it will be you."
"Fine…we're still on for D'Conners at 11?"
"Yes…go out the back. Nobody can see us."
And with that the voices stopped. Sakura couldn't recognize either of them, but that could be because of the thick door between them. It sounded like they were talking about getting Sasuke fired. She called him right away, but there was no answer.
She sent him a txt: I found some think weed. Call me as soon as you can.
She then sent another message: I mean 'something weird' I don't do drugs
—
Next Time: Sasuke learns that somebody is trying to force him out of the company, so he and Sakura perform a stake out to find out who.
—
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Sorry for the short chapter, be sure to check out Sakura's Amnesia and You Belong With Me.